The surviving legal spouse: Proof to establish SSS membership of the deceased member or pensioner; Death certificate of the deceased member or pensioner; Marriage Certificate; and Proof of payment of funeral expenses, if available.
Documents you may need to provide Proof of the worker's death; Birth certificate or other proof of birth; Proof of U.S. citizenship or lawful alien status if you were not born in the United States More Info; U.S. military discharge paper(s) if you had military service before 1968;
Program Description. When a qualified person dies, a spouse may get a one-time Social Security death payment of $255. If there is no spouse, some children may qualify.
Only about a third of all states have laws specifying that assets owned by the deceased are automatically inherited by the surviving spouse. In the remaining states, the surviving spouse may inherit between one-third and one-half of the assets, with the remainder divided among surviving children, if applicable.
Military duty status at time of death is not a factor in determining eligibility. $255 has not changed since its inception and is not indexed for inflation. Application is made by calling 1-800-772-1213. (TTY 1-800-325-0778) or by visiting your local Social Security office.
Usually, you can't get surviving spouse's benefits if you remarry before age 60 (or age 50 if you have a disability). But remarriage after age 60 (or age 50 if you have a disability) won't prevent you from getting benefit payments based on your former spouse's work.
Surviving spouse, at full retirement age or older, generally gets 100% of the worker's basic benefit amount. Surviving spouse, age 60 or older, but under full retirement age, gets between 71% and 99% of the worker's basic benefit amount.
How long does a widow receive survivor benefits? Social Security benefits are payable to you for life unless you collect a retirement benefit that is greater than the survivor benefit.
To qualify as a surviving divorced spouse, you must meet the conditions below: Be at least age 60. Were married for at least 10 years. Have evidence of a finalized divorce.