My son's father passed away but had a daughter from a previous marriage she just turned 18 will my son's benefits go up

Hi,

If your son has been receiving survivor benefits on his father's account and only he and one other child have been drawing benefits on that record, your son's benefits would not go up when the other child stops getting benefits. That's because the maximum benefit rate that a surviving child can receive is equal to 75% of the deceased parent's primary insurance amount (PIA). The family maximum benefit (FMB) limit that can be paid on a deceased worker's record is never less than 150% of their PIA, so if only 2 children (and no surviving spouse) are eligible for benefits on the worker's record their respective benefit rates would not be affected by the other child's entitlement (or non-entitlement) to benefits.

Best, Jerry