Here's the scenario . My Mom passed away Monday .Obviously her SS payment for November had already been direct deposited .I know that SS always does a " take back " for that month in the case of the death of the recipient . My sister , who had signature authority on Mom's checking account , closed the account on Tuesday and we payed some outstanding bills , etc.
Since there is no money in the account for them to take back , are they going to contact my sister and demand repayment ? Does she have any liability here ?

First my sincere condolences for your loss...

As a pure guess since I have no direct knowledge I would say yes she does..

While I cannot answer your question, my heartfelt condolences on the loss of your mother.

I am very sorry for the loss of your mother.

That was her social security payment for October, wasn't it (paid in November)?

IIRC, what she was paid in November was her October benefit (and she was still alive for the entire month of October). SS always pays the following month.

You may be thinking of this scenario: "Do you have to pay back social security when someone dies? Social Security recipient must have survived the entire month to be entitled to the payment. For example, if a recipient dies on June 24, the payment made on July 3 will have to be returned."

I do not believe you need to return the SS payment. However, a member here, Fed161, may come up and help answer this question. He worked with/for the SSA; he is the SigForum guru on SS.

Contact social security NOW so she doesn't erroneously receive her November payment next month.

quote:

Here's the scenario . My Mom passed away Monday .Obviously her SS payment for November had already been direct deposited .I know that SS always does a " take back " for that month in the case of the death of the recipient . My sister , who had signature authority on Mom's checking account , closed the account on Tuesday and we payed some outstanding bills , etc.
Since there is no money in the account for them to take back , are they going to contact my sister and demand repayment ? Does she have any liability here ?

^^^^^^
They will want the money back. You need to contact social security and inform them of her death so she will be listed on the social security death index and will not be receiving any more checks. There is also a small death benefit that Social Security pays, about 255 dollars if I recall. You are due that money as well.

I know that they always take back the payment . The question is whether my sister will have any liability in this issue since she is the one that closed the account and her name was tied to it .

The funeral home said that when they file the Death Notice , SS is notified . I believe it worked that way when my Dad passed .

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Originally posted by selogic:
I know that they always take back the payment.

No, I don't think so. It is situational dependent.

quote:

The question is whether my sister will have any liability in this issue since she is the one that closed the account and her name was tied to it.

Call the SS at 1-800-772-1213.

quote:

I know that they always take back the payment . The question is whether my sister will have any liability in this issue since she is the one that closed the account and her name was tied to it .

^^^^^^^^^
The Executor of the estate. Is your sister the Executor? THe money will come out of the estate.

^^^^^^
They will want the money back. You need to contact social security and inform them of her death so she will be listed on the social security death index and will not be receiving any more checks. There is also a small death benefit that Social Security pays, about 255 dollars if I recall. You are due that money as well.[/QUOTE] There are no more social Security checks . Everything is direct deposit now . And since her bank account no longer exists ...

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:

quote:

I know that they always take back the payment . The question is whether my sister will have any liability in this issue since she is the one that closed the account and her name was tied to it .

^^^^^^^^^
The Executor of the estate. Is your sister the Executor? THe money will come out of the estate.

There is no Estate . Mom lived on Social Security and Dad's Pension . She had no assets .

I believe what will happen is that the executor/personal representative of the estate will be responsible for making the SSA happy and if it happens that the last Social Security payment needs to be refunded by the estate, it will be up to the executor to collect from the sister on behalf of the estate.

But it may be different in your state.

selogic - you can clear this all up by calling the social security administration at 1-800-772-1213.

Again though, here's my 2 cents. Your mother was alive for the entire month of October. The SSA paid her October benefit via direct deposit to her bank account in November. She keeps the money since she was alive for the entire month of October.

Now...if she passed on October 30th and was paid the benefit in November, THEN the SSA would want the money back.

The key point everyone seems to miss is that the SSA pays the benefit earned in the following month.

quote:

Originally posted by joel9507:
I believe what will happen is that the executor/personal representative of the estate will be responsible for making the SSA happy and if it happens that the last Social Security payment needs to be refunded by the estate, it will be up to the executor to collect from the sister on behalf of the estate.

But it may be different in your state.

Like I said , there is no Estate , no Executor . My sister had signature authority on the account so she closed it . We rented a storage unit for some of her belongings and used the rest on funeral expenses . There wasn't much to start with and it's gone now .

SS pays benefits a month behind. If she got a check in November, it was for the month of October when she was still alive, so that’s fine. If she still gets a check in December, that would be for the month of November, the month she passed, and they would take that back. That’s why you need to let SS know as soon as possible. Call SS yourself. Don’t depend on the funeral home or anyone else to do it for you.

I went through this last year when my mother passed. One of the first thing I did when I got to her house was to go through her documents and call to stop all of her payments (SS, military retirement, pensions, etc.)

The account is closed . There is nowhere for SS to deposit the money even if they tried . The pension administrator has been notified .

Let us know what happens.

Why are you so adverse to notifying the SSA of your mother's passing?

My sincere condolences, btw.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
Why are you so adverse to notifying the SSA of your mother's passing?

My sincere condolences, btw.

Where did I say I was adverse to it ? I simply said the Funeral Home does it . Even the SS website says so . All I'm asking is whether my sister has any liability to the Social Security Administration in the event they want to take back a payment ?

quote:

Originally posted by selogic:
All I'm asking is whether my sister has any liability to the Social Security Administration in the event they want to take back a payment?

Then call the SSA and ask. I've posted the phone number twice so far.

Don't rely on your Internet/SigForum friends to give you this kind of advice. Your definitive answer is just a phone call away.

How long does it take for the funeral home to get around to informing the SSA of your mother's passing? You are getting to the point (end of November) where the SSA may end up processing another payment for your mother.

Kill two birds with one stone - call the SSA to get the answers to your questions and let them know of your mother's passing. It's a Saturday; they are available (at least Medicare was last Saturday when I called them).