Social Security offers benefits to families in many different circumstances. Most people are aware of Social Security’s retirement benefits but are less familiar with the other potential family benefits. In this article, I will discuss survivor benefits.
Social Security may provide your family with a form of life insurance
There are two types of payments that Social Security may provide in the event of an earner’s death: a lump-sum death payment and survivor benefits.
Lump sum death payment
A lump-sum death payment is a one-time $255 death benefit payable to a surviving spouse. To qualify, the surviving spouse must be living with the deceased earner at their time of death. If there is no surviving spouse, this payment may be payable to a surviving child under 18, a child 18-19 in K-12 school full-time, or a child with a disability (developed before age 22). These family members must apply for the benefit within two years of the worker’s death to be eligible.
In the past, the lump-sum payment was considered a substantial benefit; however, the $255 figure has not increased in decades. This means the value of this benefit has significantly declined over time due to inflation.
Social Security survivor benefits
Survivor benefits are monthly benefits paid to certain eligible family members. For an earner’s family to qualify for benefits in the event of their death, the earner needs to have paid into the Social Security system. The required amount of work in the system depends on your age. Most commonly, you must work for at least 10 years before your family is eligible for benefits. However, an earner may qualify with fewer than 10 years of payment into the system with a recent earnings history.
Social Security Survivor benefits may provide regular monthly income for the survivor’s family in the event of their death.
Survivor benefits can be substantial and provide great financial assistance in the event of the premature death of a worker. When Sensible Financial creates a financial plan, we consider the survivor benefits your family would be eligible for if you died prematurely, as this impacts our recommendations about the amount of life insurance that is needed to preserve your family’s living standard.
Who is eligible and under what circumstances?
* Remarriage before age 60 can impact your ability to claim survivor benefits.
Does Social Security estimate your benefit amount?
Fortunately, you don’t have to do all the math yourself to calculate the benefits your family would qualify for in the event of your death. Social Security provides the estimated benefits for a child, spouse, spouse caring for a child, and the family maximum through your online SSA.gov account. Simply log in to your account (or create one) and scroll to the bottom half of the welcome page to the section titled “More Benefits.” From there, find the “Learn more about survivor benefits” link. When you expand the hyperlink, you’ll see the estimates for your child, spouse caring for a child, spouse starting at FRA (full retirement age), and the family maximum.
Importantly, there are other factors to consider beyond Social Security’s online estimates. A surviving spouse, for example, may not be eligible for some or all of their survivor benefits in the current year if they earn more than $23,400 per year (the earnings test threshold in 2025) and they have not reached their full retirement age.
How to apply for survivor benefits
The SSA does not provide survivor benefits automatically to family members at the time of an earner’s death. Survivors must apply for benefits by appointment. You can call 1-800-772-1213 and ask to schedule an appointment to apply for survivor benefits. The representative will determine whether to conduct the appointment by phone or in person. Note: Monthly survivor benefits begin accruing from your time of application, not from the time of the earner’s death.
If instead you are already receiving Social Security benefits on the earner’s record (family benefits), you do not need to apply separately for survivor benefits. When Social Security is informed about the death of the earner, they will update your benefit amount automatically.
Understanding the calculation of survivor benefits will allow you to confirm that Social Security is paying you the correct amount of benefits. I will outline how to calculate these benefits in my next article.
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