7 Things Parents Need to Know About Social Security Survivor Benefits for Children

Typically, child survivor benefits end when the recipient turns 18. Kids who are still in school when they reach that age may continue getting payments until they graduate high school or reach age 19 and two months, whichever comes first.

Benefits used to continue into college, but Congress changed the rules in 1981. In this situation, you’ll need to get a statement of attendance certified by a school official.

Adults with a disability that began before age 22 can keep receiving “child” benefits on a deceased parent’s record for as long as they continue to meet Social Security’s definition of adult disability — broadly, a medical condition that prevents them from doing most work. The SSA will periodically reassess their disability status to ensure they remain eligible.

“Incorrectly assuming that benefits are not available for older children or disabled adult children can lead to missed opportunities for financial support,” Skolnik says.

In most cases, including those involving an adult child with disabilities, the child survivor benefit will end if the recipient gets married.

3. How do I apply?

You can apply for survivor benefits by calling Social Security’s national help line (800-772-1213) or visiting a local SSA office. You can’t apply online.

Romig say the process can take as little as 20 to 30 minutes if you’ve gathered all the proper information. (See the next question.)

While there is no set time limit to claim survivor benefits, the age restrictions for children serve as a built-in deadline in most cases. Romig urges surviving parents to apply as soon as possible: Benefit payments are retroactive to the date you applied, not the date of your spouse’s death. (Or your ex-spouse’s death; survivor benefits may also be available to your children from a previous marriage.) “Just reach out to make an appointment,” Romig says. “That date would be what SSA calls the protective filing date, so even if you can’t get an appointment for a month or two, that’s the date that SSA has established.”

The national phone line operates from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. local time on weekdays. The SSA says the least busy times to call are before 10 a.m. and after 4 p.m., especially later in the week and toward the end of the month.

4. What documents do I need?

You’ll need to fill out an SSA-4 application form and provide evidence that your children are eligible, including:

• Their birth certificates or other proof or birth or adoption.
• Proof of your marriage to the late parent.
• Proof of the parent’s death, such as a death certificate and, if they served in the U.S. military, their discharge papers.
• Proof of U.S. citizenship or legal immigration status, if the child was born outside the United States.

If the child worked in the previous year, add their W-2 form or self-employment tax return to the document pile. If you are applying for an adult child with a disability, you’ll need to fill out a form detailing their condition and give the SSA permission to access their medical records from health care providers.

During the application process you may be asked for additional information, including Social Security numbers for you, your late spouse and the children you’re applying for, as well as bank account information to set up direct deposit for benefits.

One important note: Social Security will accept photocopies of employment, tax and medical records but most other documents, including birth certificates, must be originals. (You will get them back after the application is processed.) The SSA website has detailed information on what you need to apply.

5. How much do my kids get?

If the late parent had reached retirement age, qualifying children can collect 75 percent of what the parent was receiving from Social Security or, if they hadn’t yet claimed benefits, what they were entitled to receive at the time of death. But child survivor benefits are often the product of a parent’s untimely death, years or decades before retirement age.

In this situation, the child benefit is 75 percent of the late parent’s full retirement benefit — the amount they would be getting from Social Security had they lived claim benefits at full retirement age, based on their earnings history. That is now between 66 and 67, depending on the deceased parent's year of birth. If you don’t know that amount, ask an SSA representative to look it up when you make your initial contact about claiming survivor benefits.

If you have multiple kids getting survivor benefits, it could trigger Social Security’s “family maximum” — a cap on how much one household can receive in benefits related to one late family member. The cap is usually between 150 percent and 180 percent of the deceased’s full retirement benefit. If the sum of your kids’ benefits exceeds the cap, the SSA will reduce each payment by an equal amount until the total matches the family maximum.

In many cases, especially if the children are young or have severe disabilities, the surviving parent serves a representative payee, managing Social Security income on their kids’ behalf. That means setting up how they receive their benefits (it can be a family bank account or one owned by the child) and only spending the money on meeting their needs.

“Careful consideration must be used in determining how to use these benefits and how to prepare for the transitions that come as the child ages,” says Melissa Brennan, a certified financial planner at ARS Private Wealth Management in the Dallas area.

6. Can I get benefits, too?

In most cases, yes. Social Security pays what it calls mother’s or father’s benefits to surviving spouses and ex-spouses caring for children who are younger than 16 or who are older but still require extensive parental care and supervision because of a disability.

The benefit amount is the same as for child recipients: 75 percent of what the late parent was receiving or would have been entitled to receive from Social Security. But your benefit, like those of your kids, is subject to the family maximum and can be reduced if the payments collectively exceed the cap.

A few more things to know about mother’s and father’s benefits:

• They end when the children you are caring for turn 16 or if the SSA no longer considers them to have a disability.
• Regardless of your children’s situation, you may lose a mother’s or father’s benefit if you remarry.
• They are distinct from widow’s and widower’s benefits, for which surviving spouses become eligible at age 60 (50 if the survivor has a disability). Your mother’s or father’s benefit ends when you become entitled to a widow’s or widower’s benefit, or to your own retirement benefit.

7. What about adopted kids and stepchildren?

They may be able to collect survivor benefits, too.

Children legally adopted by a couple before one spouse’s death are treated the same as biological offspring for Social Security purposes and can receive survivor benefits under the same rules. The same goes for children adopted by a single parent. Kids may also be eligible for survivor benefits if they are adopted by one spouse after the other dies and if they were living with or getting at least half their support from the late spouse.

Generally, children can collect benefits when a stepparent dies if the deceased had been married to the child’s natural or adoptive parent for at least nine months and was providing at least half of the child’s support.

In addition, children being raised by grandparents or step-grandparents because of a natural parent’s death or disability may be eligible for survivor benefits when a grandparent dies if the grandparent had adopted them or was their primary source of financial support.

The regulations around blended families and grandfamilies can be confusing and carry additional document requirements — another good reason to consult a Social Security representative if you are not the biological parent but are responsible for care of a child whose parent has died.