Hello.
They still haven't released my wife's final underpayment. It has now been 6 months.
Call after call it's just one more excuse/reason/delay.
I now believe I will grow old (I already am) without ever receiving the payment.
This morning it was just more him-hawing as usual.
They said they'd forward the manager to manager note to their manager...and that will take 2 weeks or more.
This is insane.
You mentioned that you assumed I had a higher monthly payment than my wife.
Actually, no.
She received a few hundred more than me. That's all taken care of. That was done in a timely manner and I've been receiving that amount.
But this final payment comes to a little more than $1,600.
It just seems impossible for anyone to just push a key and get this done.
I can't be the only one ever singled out.
I imagine they do this with every single widow/widower situation. They withhold the final payment then NEVER return it.
They say 'she's due those funds'.
But that doesn't mean diddly squat.
I guess in their minds, they feel can keep it indefinitely.
I truly believe I will still be calling 5 years from now.
I'm assuming they hope i will die so they dont have to cough up the $.
What am i saying? Of course they don't have to pay.
They say they do, but that doesn't mean they ever will.
There's probably some loophole in the law that states if they say they're working on it, that's good enough.

Is there no recourse one can take in this matter?

Jon

On Friday, April 26, 2019 Maximize My Social Security wrote:
Category: Miscellaneous
>My wife passed away November 1, 2018. We'd been married since valentine's
>day 1975.
>I went into s.s. office Nov 26, 2018 to enquire about her final check, as it
>had not shown up in our account. She was entitled to that (October) payment
>because she had lived till November 1.
>For 5 months now, I have been getting the runaround and delay like I've
>never seen before.
>At 1st it was 'you'll receive the payment in 15 days.
>15 days later and another hours wait on the phone it became 30 days, and I
>kept hearing 30 days for 5 months now.
>The most recent call was a '2nd top priority note' to the higher ups and if
>that doesn't work it will be a manager to manager call. That date came, and
>went, today. Now its '15 working days'.
>It's been 5 months! Come on!!
>I imagine s.s. does this 'department wife's, knowing many will just give up,
>saving s.s. millions. They're not going to go searching the bereaving out to
>inform them they have money owed to them.
>It's bad enough I have to live out my life now without my soulmate. They
>have to pour salt in the wiynd by making me hump jump thru every conceivable
>hoop they can come up with. I see no end to this. I've been on hold 7 times
>for over 12 hours and twice to the s.s. office.they keep saying YOULL GET
>THE MONEY. Right! If only I could so the same with my bill collectors. How
>patient would they be?
Hi,

I'm sorry for your loss.

It's a shame that you've been getting such a run around from Social Security.
It shouldn't take nearly as long as you've waited to receive an
underpayment
like you appear to be due, so I'm not sure what's taking them so long.

Assuming that your own benefit rate was higher than your wife's rate and you
don't qualify for widower's benefits, you would probably need to complete and
submit a form in order to get Social Security to reissue your wife's missing
last payment to you. If that hasn't been done, that may be the root of the
problem. You can find a link to the required form on the following Social
Security website: https://www.ssa.gov/forms/ssa-1724.html.

Best, Jerry

Hi Jon,

Unfortunately, there is no real recourse available at this point. However, if you haven't already done so you might want to try contacting the office of your U.S. congressional representative or one of your U.S. Senators. Congressional inquiries on behalf of a constituent can sometimes get Social Security to expedite their processing.

Best, Jerry