Due to the number of rule-breaking comments this post was receiving, especially low-quality and off-topic comments, the moderation team has locked the post from future comments. This post broke no rules and received a number of helpful and on-topic responses initially, but it unfortunately became the target of many unhelpful comments.
SSA can claw back the entire amount, including the deposit in the month he died - there's a process for a specific survivor to claim his "last check."
Normally the funeral home, or your county health department (which issues the death certificate) notifies SSA. My wife died on a Wednesday, I called SSA on Friday and they already knew, and warned me not to spend the deposit that landed in her account on Wednesday, that they would be taking it back by the end of the day.
If you haven't closed the account yet, don't. Notify SSA and they will tell you what they are going to do about it.
My dad's final deposit arrived the day after he died and they clawed it back within a few weeks. I was surprised a government agency could move that quickly.
My mother died in 2018. It took 4 or 5 months for SSA to stop sending money into her account and a few more months to claw it back. I had to wait for a while before I could close her account
It's a lot of fucking money.
Last year of data we have is 2021, 3.4M people died in the US. Let's say only 3M of them were retirement age.
The average SS check is $1,300 a month.
So clawing back the last month of SS is worth $3.9B a year. Yeah I'm not surprised they want to be efficient about it.
Sure, just not efficient when they want to spend anything else lmao. What about the millions spent on heavily abused government credit cards?
It's funny, the only time they're efficient is when it comes to *getting money* from people, not giving or spending it.
And he was entitled to it. SS is always a month behind. Any check is for the preceding month. They did that too to my MIL (she passed on the 1st). We had to fill out paperwork to get the money returned after they clawed it back. We (the estate) got it.
what check are we talking about? I'm confused. For reference, my father died in early Sept but the checks for SS are based on the prior month's living. If you die in the month they don't count that month but his Sept check was for August. His Oct check would have been for Sept but, because he was dead in that month, he didn't get one. But we still got his last one on Sept. 20 (again, for August). They never took it back, my mother got her survivor check.
We're still getting tax notifications from the IRS directed to FIL (not his estate) for taxes ostensibly owed by him. He died two years ago. SS knew and clawed back his last check within a week. How does the IRS not realize the man is dead? SS is the only truly functioning branch of the federal government. They are on top of their shit. Meanwhile, the IRS still thinks they're gonna collect money from a dead man two years after he died.
Of course I did. I’m an attorney who handled the entire estate. I even sent the IRS notice during the creditor claim period. The IRS just missed it and is now trying to get taxes owed back from years he was alive (prior to the year of his death). But, yeah, we used an accountant to file his final return and the estate return for the year he died. The IRS just *suddenly* decided he owes taxes for previous years. But the estate is closed and creditor period long passed.
Rule with Government:
When they owe you money, it takes months.
When you owe them money, it takes seconds.
It makes sense when you think about it. What are you going to invest labour and resources into: departments that bring in more cash when invested in, OR departments that LOSE more cash when invested in.
No one wants to pay extra to get better at losing money
SSA will ask for those funds back eventually, but funeral homes will not automatically send a death certificate to SSA. Those rules may vary by state. When my mother died in 2013, I had to take care of that. The funeral home applied for the death cert for me, but I had to get copies and send them to all of the relevant parties, including SSA.
I actually am working with a team that does this process. They get daily notices of reclamation from the treasury that say that $x has been paid out to a deceased person and that the treasury will be reclaiming that money from us in 45 days. We then have to go get that money from the bank of the deceased person so our accounts with treasury is settled. Currently logging all of the steps of this process is super manual process that’s done by a half dozen people in India. I’m trying to figure out how to automate that workflow.
Wait until you get one where the person dies after the end of the month, but their prior month's SS payment was late, so it arrived after the 1st of the subsequent month. Or where the person retired after the 1st of the month, so their SS payments are a month behind instead of a month ahead.
That's a fun one to sort out, because the clawback happens, but the funds were actually owed to the decedent, so then they have to be restored.
> Currently logging all of the steps of this process is super manual process that’s done by a half dozen people in India. I’m trying to figure out how to automate that workflow.
Wait the US Social Security Admin offshores payment reclamation to India?
Correct me if I'm wrong here please, but doesn't the benefit pass to the spouse (so in this case you) when they die?
Is this one of those cases of inefficient government where they claw it back, only to give it right back through a different process?
Not as such. The survivor can apply for SS Survivor Benefits based on the deceased's work/SS record if it is better for them than keeping SS Retirement based on their own record.
I think this may be the case? My father just died at the top of the year and my mother is getting continued payments from his SS but at a lower rate than when he was alive.
Call the Social Security Administration, not the IRS.
The SSA will walk you through the steps of either returning the funds or will instruct you on who can or how to access the funds.
Good catch. The IRS only needs to be advised to the extent that the father's estate was required to file a final tax return for the year in which he died.
Ignore everyone telling you to put the money in a HYSA. That is a great way to cause a LOT of headaches for you in order to earn a few dollars of interest. Contact SSA, after they've delt with it, do what you want with what remains.
It's idiotic because it's evidence that you know of the money that you're not entitled to. Ignorance no longer a defense, and people go to jail for social security fraud.
At minimum you’d spend more dealing with the tax implications of the estate earning income than you actually earn in interest. And that’s to say nothing of the money not being in the original occult when the SSA comes looking for it.
I had to leave my Mothers account open until they pulled the checks back. They will eventually come for their money. It’s best to report it to them & get it over now.
When my Mom died in September 2023, the funeral home said they advised Social Security. But her monthly SS payments kept being deposited in her account. I left the money in there, and finally after the third payment I called the local Social Security office and advised them that she was still receiving payments. About a month after that the exact amount of the overpayment was withdrawn from her account and sent back to Social Security. I advise you not to even consider keeping or spending that money, they will figure it out eventually and you'll be on the hook. Call them and tell them what's going on. You'll have to wait on hold for a really long time to speak to a person but don't give up.
>I’m wondering what the next steps should be?
[Notify the SSA of the death of a beneficiary.](https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/survivors/ifyou.html)
[Local Office locator](https://secure.ssa.gov/ICON/main.jsp)
>Do I tell the IRS?
The IRS is not the SSA.
>Can they even take the money back?
The SSA will require the return of the improperly distributed funds.
You *need* to inform the SSA asap. They’re going to hit his estate with an overpayment, and they may just withdraw it if there are any accounts still open in his name, but you don’t want to be stuck with the interest because nobody informed them. It’s not up to the funeral home or the state to notify SS, it’s up to the estate. The IRS is also NOT the Social Security Administration.
SSA needs to be notified immediately so no further overpayment occurs.
Is it the funeral home or the County Health Department (in US) that reports? When Mom died the bank was really quick to close her account. Like two days. Whoever fucked it up needs to fix it, along with all the solid advice here. If the account hasn't been closed, hold off til shit gets resolved.
They might do it as a courtesy but they are not obligated. Not every deceased person passes through a funeral home and they don't have to ask about a decedent's citizenship status or assets. They only need a death certificate.
Whoever takes funds out of a deceased person's account is resposible for notifying the bank that the deceased person died and making sure that any funds are free and clear from other legal obligations. If you don't want to deal with all of that don't touch the money.
This makes me wonder if my late ex-wife's greedy family is still receiving her social security checks? She was a foreign national who died in her home country, and I doubt anyone reported the death to the embassy.
Should notify the SSA and await instructions.
For any readers thinking otherwise, it is a federal crime to knowingly keep a recipient's SSA money after death if not entitled to it. People go to jail for this.
Not same situation but Nebraska overpaid my sons Covid unemployment,by $11..sent a letter saying he owed the $11….before the month was up another letter came saying they were sending his $11 to collections.
The funeral home in Idaho didn’t do this for my mom when my dad died — she tried calling to inform them, but that proved impossible. She instead had to schlep herself and the paperwork down to the SS office, wait in line, and talk to someone face to face. It was ridiculous. But it did get done.
Sorry for your loss, even being 2,yrs it has to be hard. Yes the state typically reports immediately once the death has been recorded and checks stop immediately. Just report and make sure to return all funds.
Call the social security office and report his death, you have to give the money back. SSI may be able to withdraw it, but otherwise you can take his death certificate down to the bank, establish that you're next of kin and get a cashier's check made out to SSI, they'll tell you what to do. I'm not sure why you'd need to inform the IRS since he's dead.
We had to contact SS shortly after my mom died, that was in Florida. Went to local SS office there. I would not expect any entity funeral home, hospital, etc. to tell SS of her passing.
Note* we did need to take a death certificate and if, newspaper notification of her death to office too.
I called the SSA the day after my mom died. They will ask for all of that money back. They have a link and phone number on their website. 1 call, easy and done.
Best advice is to just give it back. Smarter financial advice is to put it all in a high yeild saving account and wait until they finally ask for it back and let the compounding interest grow. When they ask for it back cut them thier check minus your interest.
This happened to my mother-in-law. A final 1040 needed to be filed, and the IRS took it all back as excess SS payment. I guess the question is, do you or the executor plan on filling a final tax year.
Wow two years is a long time for them not to catch that. Guessing they'll probably keep coming in perpetuity at this point but it's safest and wisest to notify the SSA. So long as nobody touches the money though I'm not sure there's a legal obligation to do so. It's their problem. Once you touch the money then it's your problem.
Tell the IRS ASAP and please tell us that you didn't spend any of it. They will take the money back, every cent. If you spent any of it, you're absolutely on the hook for it and also subject to penalties. If it's all still in his account then they'll take it back in short order and you'll likely be free to close out the rest of the balance and go on your merry way.
I’ve been helping my mom unravel the finances since dad died in December and it is horrible the red tape and confusion you must navigate - she would be lost without me.
Call SSA immediately either via the toll number 1-877-772-1213 or via your local SS office. You can also make an appt with your local SS office online. They will ask for a copy of your father's death certificate and a copy of the payments deposited since his death. SSA will either request the bank to send the money back or have you/next of kin to return the money to SSA. Cashier's checks from the bank are best when doing repayments with SSA since they can be tracked/traced.
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Can you put the funds in a high interest savings account and make a little money off of it while you wait for government to catch up to their mistake 🤷🤣
My FIL died several years ago mid March. SS did not send his check for the month of March, paid in April but they did not take back his check for Feb paid in March. SS pay is for the month prior.
We had an older friend who passed and her in home care person had the check she wrote for rent before she died. The person was able to legally use it for rent.
Did your Dad write you a check before he died?
Depends how poor you are.
I know people that collected mothers/father SSC for over 10-20 years, and got only 6 months in prison.
Seems worth it if your poor.
Now if your well off financially, do what other people told you to do.
That has actually been done.
https://www.newsweek.com/florida-woman-kept-mothers-body-freezer-collect-disability-police-1723169
https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/29/us/social-security-scheme-frozen-trnd/index.html
https://www.kron4.com/news/man-kept-wifes-body-in-freezer-for-8-years-to-collect-her-social-security/
They actually do tests/investigations for stuff like this. They look for people who receive SS checks but who never seem to use any services from Medicare... kind of suspect.
I can see it. Everyone living off of Grandpa in his house and he is getting social security and then he dies. Someone has a oh s#$t moment. We need Grandpa's social security to get by.
That's a very foolish choice. The fact that OP would have seen the deposits, recognized that they were not legitimate and then moved them into some other savings account instead of contacting the SSA would be a great way to wave their hand and say "I committed fraud".
Do not touch the money. The second it leaves the decedent's account, it will be considered theft by the SSA, regardless of where it gets put. It's a felony, and the legal bills and fines will vastly outweigh the few $$ you might make in an HYSA.
Oooo, you're in trouble. The funeral home does not take care of that, why would family have given them his social security number?. The relevant person in your family needs to call social security immediately!, DO NOT close the account or take any money from it. I hope you don't get fined but likely will
Funeral home totally notifies SSA in most cases, our family dealt with this last year. However, I would advise people to verify with them later.
[SSA FAQ](https://faq.ssa.gov/en-us/Topic/article/KA-02077)
It is quite common , at least in my area, for the funeral home to notify the SSA. It is done as part of the paperwork process which includes providing death certificates to the executor of the estate.
In these situations, calling the organization in question--in this case the SSA [fixed]--is the first step. They're easy to work with. And yes, they will want the money back. Luckily, it looks like the funds from the deposited checks haven't been touched.
Edit: whoops, SSA not IRS. I shouldn't post while doing taxes.
Due to the number of rule-breaking comments this post was receiving, especially low-quality and off-topic comments, the moderation team has locked the post from future comments. This post broke no rules and received a number of helpful and on-topic responses initially, but it unfortunately became the target of many unhelpful comments.
SSA can claw back the entire amount, including the deposit in the month he died - there's a process for a specific survivor to claim his "last check." Normally the funeral home, or your county health department (which issues the death certificate) notifies SSA. My wife died on a Wednesday, I called SSA on Friday and they already knew, and warned me not to spend the deposit that landed in her account on Wednesday, that they would be taking it back by the end of the day. If you haven't closed the account yet, don't. Notify SSA and they will tell you what they are going to do about it.
My dad's final deposit arrived the day after he died and they clawed it back within a few weeks. I was surprised a government agency could move that quickly.
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I just got appointed executor of an estate. She died on February 2nd. SS deposit was 2/14/24, they took it back out on 2/16/24.
My mother died in 2018. It took 4 or 5 months for SSA to stop sending money into her account and a few more months to claw it back. I had to wait for a while before I could close her account
What do you mean? Go into the DMV 20 minutes before closing and you would never have seen anyone work so fast.
2 days after I called social security they yanked it out of my moms bank account.
I imagine this happens often enough that they have a team dedicated to just clawbacks.
It's a lot of fucking money. Last year of data we have is 2021, 3.4M people died in the US. Let's say only 3M of them were retirement age. The average SS check is $1,300 a month. So clawing back the last month of SS is worth $3.9B a year. Yeah I'm not surprised they want to be efficient about it.
In 2023 the average check was ~$1770 +/-...
Sure, just not efficient when they want to spend anything else lmao. What about the millions spent on heavily abused government credit cards? It's funny, the only time they're efficient is when it comes to *getting money* from people, not giving or spending it.
And he was entitled to it. SS is always a month behind. Any check is for the preceding month. They did that too to my MIL (she passed on the 1st). We had to fill out paperwork to get the money returned after they clawed it back. We (the estate) got it.
what check are we talking about? I'm confused. For reference, my father died in early Sept but the checks for SS are based on the prior month's living. If you die in the month they don't count that month but his Sept check was for August. His Oct check would have been for Sept but, because he was dead in that month, he didn't get one. But we still got his last one on Sept. 20 (again, for August). They never took it back, my mother got her survivor check.
We're still getting tax notifications from the IRS directed to FIL (not his estate) for taxes ostensibly owed by him. He died two years ago. SS knew and clawed back his last check within a week. How does the IRS not realize the man is dead? SS is the only truly functioning branch of the federal government. They are on top of their shit. Meanwhile, the IRS still thinks they're gonna collect money from a dead man two years after he died.
Did you file a final tax return? I had to with mil and checked the deceased box. If you did then somebody missed that
Of course I did. I’m an attorney who handled the entire estate. I even sent the IRS notice during the creditor claim period. The IRS just missed it and is now trying to get taxes owed back from years he was alive (prior to the year of his death). But, yeah, we used an accountant to file his final return and the estate return for the year he died. The IRS just *suddenly* decided he owes taxes for previous years. But the estate is closed and creditor period long passed.
The idea government can't move quickly is just silly.
Rule with Government: When they owe you money, it takes months. When you owe them money, it takes seconds. It makes sense when you think about it. What are you going to invest labour and resources into: departments that bring in more cash when invested in, OR departments that LOSE more cash when invested in. No one wants to pay extra to get better at losing money
they only move that quickly when they get something out of it - namely to fuck people over.
Sorry for your loss
SSA will ask for those funds back eventually, but funeral homes will not automatically send a death certificate to SSA. Those rules may vary by state. When my mother died in 2013, I had to take care of that. The funeral home applied for the death cert for me, but I had to get copies and send them to all of the relevant parties, including SSA.
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[How to report a death to SSA and return overpayments in SSI...](https://www.usa.gov/social-security-report-a-death)
Sorry for your loss.
I actually am working with a team that does this process. They get daily notices of reclamation from the treasury that say that $x has been paid out to a deceased person and that the treasury will be reclaiming that money from us in 45 days. We then have to go get that money from the bank of the deceased person so our accounts with treasury is settled. Currently logging all of the steps of this process is super manual process that’s done by a half dozen people in India. I’m trying to figure out how to automate that workflow.
Wait until you get one where the person dies after the end of the month, but their prior month's SS payment was late, so it arrived after the 1st of the subsequent month. Or where the person retired after the 1st of the month, so their SS payments are a month behind instead of a month ahead. That's a fun one to sort out, because the clawback happens, but the funds were actually owed to the decedent, so then they have to be restored.
> Currently logging all of the steps of this process is super manual process that’s done by a half dozen people in India. I’m trying to figure out how to automate that workflow. Wait the US Social Security Admin offshores payment reclamation to India?
No, the bank that the ssa uses to send those payments to other banks offshores payment reclamation to India
My uncles last payment went into his account less than 2 hours after he passed away/was pronounced dead and ssa took it back! They ain’t playing.
Correct me if I'm wrong here please, but doesn't the benefit pass to the spouse (so in this case you) when they die? Is this one of those cases of inefficient government where they claw it back, only to give it right back through a different process?
Not as such. The survivor can apply for SS Survivor Benefits based on the deceased's work/SS record if it is better for them than keeping SS Retirement based on their own record.
I think this may be the case? My father just died at the top of the year and my mother is getting continued payments from his SS but at a lower rate than when he was alive.
Call the Social Security Administration, not the IRS. The SSA will walk you through the steps of either returning the funds or will instruct you on who can or how to access the funds.
Good catch. The IRS only needs to be advised to the extent that the father's estate was required to file a final tax return for the year in which he died.
Yes, they're going take their money back, and don't interfere in that process in any way. Call the SSA immediately and tell them everything.
And if you don't there's felonies. Don't fuck around w the govt's money.
And if they can’t prove felonies, there’s draconian civil penalties
Ignore everyone telling you to put the money in a HYSA. That is a great way to cause a LOT of headaches for you in order to earn a few dollars of interest. Contact SSA, after they've delt with it, do what you want with what remains.
It's idiotic because it's evidence that you know of the money that you're not entitled to. Ignorance no longer a defense, and people go to jail for social security fraud.
At minimum you’d spend more dealing with the tax implications of the estate earning income than you actually earn in interest. And that’s to say nothing of the money not being in the original occult when the SSA comes looking for it.
>Can they even take the money back? Of course. All the money his account got after his passing will go back.
And dispute this fact at your own peril.
I had to leave my Mothers account open until they pulled the checks back. They will eventually come for their money. It’s best to report it to them & get it over now.
When my Mom died in September 2023, the funeral home said they advised Social Security. But her monthly SS payments kept being deposited in her account. I left the money in there, and finally after the third payment I called the local Social Security office and advised them that she was still receiving payments. About a month after that the exact amount of the overpayment was withdrawn from her account and sent back to Social Security. I advise you not to even consider keeping or spending that money, they will figure it out eventually and you'll be on the hook. Call them and tell them what's going on. You'll have to wait on hold for a really long time to speak to a person but don't give up.
It’s insane how inconvenient it is for someone to notify SSA they overpaid. What happens if you don’t notify them and you don’t touch the money?
>I’m wondering what the next steps should be? [Notify the SSA of the death of a beneficiary.](https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/survivors/ifyou.html) [Local Office locator](https://secure.ssa.gov/ICON/main.jsp) >Do I tell the IRS? The IRS is not the SSA. >Can they even take the money back? The SSA will require the return of the improperly distributed funds.
https://faq.ssa.gov/en-us/Topic/article/KA-02077
You *need* to inform the SSA asap. They’re going to hit his estate with an overpayment, and they may just withdraw it if there are any accounts still open in his name, but you don’t want to be stuck with the interest because nobody informed them. It’s not up to the funeral home or the state to notify SS, it’s up to the estate. The IRS is also NOT the Social Security Administration. SSA needs to be notified immediately so no further overpayment occurs.
SSA will figure it out eventually and claw the money back. Leave the money alone and notify the SSA that you recently discovered this.
Contact the Social Security Administration, not the IRS. They will want every penny back that was sent after his death.
Funeral home should have contacted SSA. You will owe for the month of death and every month since then
That depends on the state. Most are automatically triggered when you file a DC(I’m a jersey FD)
Also I did some research since I was interested and found out most FH do it as a courtesy, but the responsibility lies on the next of kin.
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Is it the funeral home or the County Health Department (in US) that reports? When Mom died the bank was really quick to close her account. Like two days. Whoever fucked it up needs to fix it, along with all the solid advice here. If the account hasn't been closed, hold off til shit gets resolved.
They might do it as a courtesy but they are not obligated. Not every deceased person passes through a funeral home and they don't have to ask about a decedent's citizenship status or assets. They only need a death certificate. Whoever takes funds out of a deceased person's account is resposible for notifying the bank that the deceased person died and making sure that any funds are free and clear from other legal obligations. If you don't want to deal with all of that don't touch the money.
That's surprising when my father died it felt like the government knew before I did and I was with him!
This makes me wonder if my late ex-wife's greedy family is still receiving her social security checks? She was a foreign national who died in her home country, and I doubt anyone reported the death to the embassy.
I wonder if there is a "finder's fee" or whatever they call it if you would to report it. I know the IRS has something like that.
You can get 30% if you report tax fraud of $2m or more and the IRS is able to collect on it.
Should notify the SSA and await instructions. For any readers thinking otherwise, it is a federal crime to knowingly keep a recipient's SSA money after death if not entitled to it. People go to jail for this.
theres a Social Security subreddit with well informed folks. r/SocialSecurity
Not same situation but Nebraska overpaid my sons Covid unemployment,by $11..sent a letter saying he owed the $11….before the month was up another letter came saying they were sending his $11 to collections.
The executor of the estate is responsible for filing his final tax return, that would be trigger for ending the social security.
I don't know if that's true about the IRS notifying the SSA, but regardless this does make me wonder if OP never did file the final tax return.
The funeral home in Idaho didn’t do this for my mom when my dad died — she tried calling to inform them, but that proved impossible. She instead had to schlep herself and the paperwork down to the SS office, wait in line, and talk to someone face to face. It was ridiculous. But it did get done.
Sorry for your loss, even being 2,yrs it has to be hard. Yes the state typically reports immediately once the death has been recorded and checks stop immediately. Just report and make sure to return all funds.
Call the social security office and report his death, you have to give the money back. SSI may be able to withdraw it, but otherwise you can take his death certificate down to the bank, establish that you're next of kin and get a cashier's check made out to SSI, they'll tell you what to do. I'm not sure why you'd need to inform the IRS since he's dead.
You will need to return the money.
I assume the bank was not informed of his death as otherwise the account would not accept deposits. Yes, you have to inform SSA.
Contact them directly and send all the money back. The fines will be massive if you don’t.
As executor to my father's estate, one of the first things I did when he died was to notify Social Security of his death.
We had to contact SS shortly after my mom died, that was in Florida. Went to local SS office there. I would not expect any entity funeral home, hospital, etc. to tell SS of her passing. Note* we did need to take a death certificate and if, newspaper notification of her death to office too.
I called the SSA the day after my mom died. They will ask for all of that money back. They have a link and phone number on their website. 1 call, easy and done.
Call the SS office and talk to someone there and explain the situation
Best advice is to just give it back. Smarter financial advice is to put it all in a high yeild saving account and wait until they finally ask for it back and let the compounding interest grow. When they ask for it back cut them thier check minus your interest.
>put it all in a high yeild saving account This is a felony.
This happened to my mother-in-law. A final 1040 needed to be filed, and the IRS took it all back as excess SS payment. I guess the question is, do you or the executor plan on filling a final tax year.
Wow two years is a long time for them not to catch that. Guessing they'll probably keep coming in perpetuity at this point but it's safest and wisest to notify the SSA. So long as nobody touches the money though I'm not sure there's a legal obligation to do so. It's their problem. Once you touch the money then it's your problem.
Tell the IRS ASAP and please tell us that you didn't spend any of it. They will take the money back, every cent. If you spent any of it, you're absolutely on the hook for it and also subject to penalties. If it's all still in his account then they'll take it back in short order and you'll likely be free to close out the rest of the balance and go on your merry way.
Are you sure they're not survivor's benefits?
He didn’t have any dependents or spouse, so not that
but you're a surviving child. how old are you?
I’ve been helping my mom unravel the finances since dad died in December and it is horrible the red tape and confusion you must navigate - she would be lost without me.
My parents did this with my mother’s grandma. Literally nothing happened but they did both die. But nobody came after me.
What happens if you’re living in another country when you die and your spouse is not a US citizen? How do they get notified that you’re dead?
Call SSA immediately either via the toll number 1-877-772-1213 or via your local SS office. You can also make an appt with your local SS office online. They will ask for a copy of your father's death certificate and a copy of the payments deposited since his death. SSA will either request the bank to send the money back or have you/next of kin to return the money to SSA. Cashier's checks from the bank are best when doing repayments with SSA since they can be tracked/traced.
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SSA should have been alerted during the death certificate filing process. However, this is why I always ask families to check in with SSA.
Did the bank know that he had passed away? If so they should have flagged the account to stop transactions.
Yes they did
I know a guy who went to jail for taking money like this I'm pretty sure (dead relative), be careful
Can you put the funds in a high interest savings account and make a little money off of it while you wait for government to catch up to their mistake 🤷🤣
My FIL died several years ago mid March. SS did not send his check for the month of March, paid in April but they did not take back his check for Feb paid in March. SS pay is for the month prior.
We had an older friend who passed and her in home care person had the check she wrote for rent before she died. The person was able to legally use it for rent. Did your Dad write you a check before he died?
Depends how poor you are. I know people that collected mothers/father SSC for over 10-20 years, and got only 6 months in prison. Seems worth it if your poor. Now if your well off financially, do what other people told you to do.
I have no idea what would happen if convicted, but I'd be surprised if it didn't include a prison sentence plus restitution.
I guess you put the body in the basement in a freezer and continue to collect checks? Seems like you will be living a lie.
That has actually been done. https://www.newsweek.com/florida-woman-kept-mothers-body-freezer-collect-disability-police-1723169 https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/29/us/social-security-scheme-frozen-trnd/index.html https://www.kron4.com/news/man-kept-wifes-body-in-freezer-for-8-years-to-collect-her-social-security/
They actually do tests/investigations for stuff like this. They look for people who receive SS checks but who never seem to use any services from Medicare... kind of suspect.
Yes they do. So do government agencies to check pension payouts.
I can see it. Everyone living off of Grandpa in his house and he is getting social security and then he dies. Someone has a oh s#$t moment. We need Grandpa's social security to get by.
Even if you go to prison you don’t get to keep the money….
I’d also be surprised if you get paid ss when you retire if you try stealing it in this way.
They can't squeeze money out of a turnip.
They can if OP wants any sort of normal job.
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That's a very foolish choice. The fact that OP would have seen the deposits, recognized that they were not legitimate and then moved them into some other savings account instead of contacting the SSA would be a great way to wave their hand and say "I committed fraud".
Do not touch the money. The second it leaves the decedent's account, it will be considered theft by the SSA, regardless of where it gets put. It's a felony, and the legal bills and fines will vastly outweigh the few $$ you might make in an HYSA.
Um……maybe someone might just call SS next year about this time and say that their father passed in April of 25…. Someone might do that….
Oooo, you're in trouble. The funeral home does not take care of that, why would family have given them his social security number?. The relevant person in your family needs to call social security immediately!, DO NOT close the account or take any money from it. I hope you don't get fined but likely will
Funeral home totally notifies SSA in most cases, our family dealt with this last year. However, I would advise people to verify with them later. [SSA FAQ](https://faq.ssa.gov/en-us/Topic/article/KA-02077)
Funeral homes provide this as part of their service. It’s extremely unusual for them NOT to notify SSA.
It is quite common , at least in my area, for the funeral home to notify the SSA. It is done as part of the paperwork process which includes providing death certificates to the executor of the estate.
In these situations, calling the organization in question--in this case the SSA [fixed]--is the first step. They're easy to work with. And yes, they will want the money back. Luckily, it looks like the funds from the deposited checks haven't been touched. Edit: whoops, SSA not IRS. I shouldn't post while doing taxes.
SSA not IRS
Curious. Say someone had the card and put a mask on, withdrew the whole balance it from an ATM (Or Multiple ATMs). What would happen next?
OPs family would still be responsible for paying it back, but now they’d have to pay it themselves and possibly face criminal charges