Ask Larry

Can I Get Survivor Benefits Due To My Mother's Death?

I was 1 year 1 month 4 days old when my mom died of cancer I am currently 38 can I get survivers bennifits do to loss of parent as a child

Hi. I'm sorry for your loss. The only way that you could now be paid anything based on your mother's Social Security contributions is if you qualify for disabled adult child's (DAC) benefits. In order to qualify for DAC benefits, you'd need to be a) unmarried, and b) disabled based on an impairment that began prior to age 22 (https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/handbook/handbook.04/handbook-0410.html).

If your mother worked and paid into Social Security long enough to be insured for survivor benefits, then you could have qualified for child's benefits prior to age 18. It would be too late to claim those benefits now, though, because the retroactivity limit for survivor benefits is 6 months prior to the month you apply for the benefits.

Best, Jerry

Posted: 
Jan 31 2022 - 3:16pm
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