Social Security Benefits for Children With Deceased Parents
Social Security is not just for disability or retirement. In fact, in the case of the death of a parent, his minor child may receive the parent's Social Security benefits. Since the loss of a parent is devastating enough, the purpose is to use what would have been paid to the wage earner upon retirement for the family of the deceased, to help ease the financial loss of a working parent.
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Benefits
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Children with a deceased parent who paid into Social Security are entitled to receive their parent's Social Security like a type of life insurance benefit. The purpose of the child, or rather the guardian of the child, receiving the benefit is to assist in paying for the child's living expenses to help her graduate from high school, as stated by the Social Security Online website.
Parental Requirements
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For every worker in the United States who pays taxes, a certain amount is pulled from your paycheck and put into Social Security. However, it is the age of the parent at the time of death, combined with the number of years worked, that determines the primary eligibility of his children. The number of working years the parent is required to pay into Social Security before being eligible for benefits is proportional to the deceased parent's age at death, with the highest minimum requirement set at 10 years. The Social Security Administration does note that if the deceased has only worked for half of the three years before death, benefits will be available to the survivors as a special rule.
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Application
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To apply for a child to receive the Social Security benefits of her deceased parent, you will need to fill out the SSA Form 1724. The Social Security office will require proof of identification and relationship, meaning you will need to provide the child's birth certificate, both the deceased parent's and child's Social Security numbers and the parent's death certificate. The child must be the legally adopted or biological child of the deceased, single (unmarried), younger than 18 or 19 but still in high school. A disabled child may still receive benefits after 18.
Amounts
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Eligible children may receive 50 percent of the deceased parent's full retirement payments or up to 75 percent of the basic Social Security benefit if the child remains in a family, according to the Social Security Online website. This benefit has a cap though, as the family as a whole may only receive 150 to 180 percent of the deceased parent's full benefit amount. If multiple children are involved, the benefit payments for each child will be adjusted proportionately until it is at the payment cap. To calculate a general or more specific estimate, use the Social Security Online benefit calculators.
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References
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