my significant other36 years passed away 5 months ago we have a 32 year old daughter together and we never married can I get any type of monthly benefits ? he was on on Social Security retirement benefits

Hi. I'm sorry for your loss. You don't mention your age or earnings history, so I don't know if you could qualify for Social Security retirement or disability benefits based on your own record. With regard to survivor benefits, you must normally be legally married for at least 9 months in order to potentially qualify for widow's benefits, and additionally you must be either at least age 60 or be at least age 50 and disabled. Or, you can potentially qualify for mother's benefits at any age if you have a child in your care who qualifies for child benefits on the record of the deceased, and if the child is either under age 16 or is disabled. But, you'd still need to have been recognized as legally married to the deceased in order to potentially qualify for child in care mother's benefits.

The only way that your 32 year old child could qualify for benefits is if she's disabled from an impairment that began before age 22. And, in order for you to potentially qualify for survivor benefits your relationship with your significant other would have to be recognized by your state as as either a legal marriage or the equivalent thereof for purposes of inheritance rights. Those rules vary by state and depend on the type of relationship and whether or not the relationship is a same-sex relationship. The following section of Social Security's operations manual outline the state regulations on non-marital relationships, and if you think there's any possibility that your relationship would meet Social Security's requirements then you should probably apply for benefits in order to get a formal determination of your eligibility: https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0200210004.

Best, Jerry