my son is 16 and his father died, guessing his family max is around 4000. there are two children, mine is 16 and the dad has an older adult handicapped child living in a group home for many years since he was disabled when he was 3. The new wife of my ex, will not be 60 for 3 years. do the two children have to split the 2000 survivor benefit or will they each get 2000, does the new wife ( widow now ) come into the equation since she will not be 60 for 3 years and my kid will be 18 and done with it.

Hi,

The widow would only factor into the amount of your son's benefit if she's entitled to benefits. In order to be entitled, she'd have to either be disabled or have a child in her care who is eligible for benefits and who is either under age 16 or disabled.

If your child and the disabled child to whom you refer are the only people who qualify for survivor benefits on your son's father's account, then the family maximum benefit (FMB) won't come into play. The maximum benefit rate that can be paid to a surviving child is 75% of the worker's primary insurance amount (PIA), and the minimum FMB in survivor cases is always at least 150% of the worker's PIA. Therefore, if 1 or 2 children are the only beneficiaries eligible for benefits on a deceased worker's record, they could always be paid their full benefit rate of 75% of the worker's PIA.

The FMB can be higher than 150% of a deceased worker's PIA, so if only 2 children are eligible for benefits then they won't necessarily receive a full 50% of the FMB. Their individual benefit rates can't exceed 75% of the worker's PIA even if the FMB is more than 150% of the PIA. I have no way of knowing what the deceased worker's PIA in your son's case is, but it sounds like your son's benefit rate will amount to 75% of his father's PIA unless more than 2 people are collecting benefits on the father's account.

Best, Jerry