Social Security and Veteran Benefits

Social Security and Veteran Benefits

After you have contacted the social security office, here are some facts you should know:

Social Security

• Upon your spouse’s death, you will receive a $255 death payment, meant to help pay for the burial and funeral services.
• Survivor’s benefits from Social Security will be paid to a surviving spouse who is over the age of 60 and makes no more than $20,000 per year.
• The amount of the payments depends on the age of the surviving spouse and the amount the decedent would have received.

The following family members, however, are also eligible to receive survivor’s benefits:

• A former spouse is also eligible to receive this benefit if he or she was married to the decedent for more than 10 years and does not remarry before age of 60.
• A spouse who is under the age of 60 but who has dependent children under 16 or disabled living with him or her.
• The decedent’s unmarried children can receive survivors’ benefits until they are 18. A disabled child can continue to receive these benefits after age 18.
• A disabled spouse over the age of 50.
• The decedent’s dependent parent over age 62.

Veterans’ Benefits

If the deceased served in the military at any point in his or her life, contact the Department of Veteran Affairs to find out whether or not he or she had an insurance policy and/or is eligible for any survivor’s benefits.

Often, the military will offer some financial help to the families of deceased veterans to help pay for:

• Cremation
• Burial
• Funeral expenses