Children’s Social Security Benefits: Rules, Amounts

Kids who are suffering the dying of a guardian or guardian might obtain as much as 75% of the deceased individual’s Social Safety retirement profit till age 18 or 19 (longer if the kid can be disabled). Social Safety may additionally pay a one-time dying advantage of $255.

Social Safety survivor advantages for kids are meant to supply a month-to-month earnings to assist youngsters full highschool after the dying of a guardian or guardian.

How do Social Safety advantages for kids work?

For a kid to be eligible for Social Safety survivor advantages, the kid’s guardian should meet one in every of two circumstances.

1. The guardian should have been retired or disabled and entitled to Social Safety advantages.

2. The guardian should have died after working in a job the place they paid Social Safety taxes.

If the deceased guardian meets both of these circumstances, a baby might qualify for Social Safety survivor advantages if they’re single and meet a number of of those standards:

• The kid is youthful than 18 years outdated.

• The kid is a full-time highschool pupil as much as 19 years outdated.

• The kid is an grownup with a incapacity that started earlier than turning 22 years outdated^[0].

In particular circumstances, grandchildren can qualify for Social Safety survivor advantages. For instance, this may increasingly occur if the grandparents have legally adopted the grandchild or have been already the kid’s authorized guardians when the guardian died. Stepchildren, step-grandchildren and adopted youngsters may additionally qualify^[0].

How lengthy do youngsters obtain Social Safety advantages?

Kids might obtain Social Safety survivor advantages till they get married or flip 18, whichever comes first. If the kid remains to be in highschool, advantages proceed till they graduate or two months after reaching age 19, whichever comes first. Kids with disabilities that started earlier than age 22 might proceed receiving advantages for so long as they’re disabled^[0].

How a lot are youngsters’s Social Safety survivor advantages?

Eligible youngsters can obtain as much as 75% of a deceased guardian’s fundamental Social Safety retirement profit. Social Safety may additionally pay a one-time dying advantage of $255.

There’s a cap on how a lot a household can obtain from Social Safety every month. Collectively, a household can obtain 150% to 180% of a deceased guardian’s full profit quantity. If the sum of the household’s advantages exceeds the utmost allowed, every individual’s profit is decreased proportionately^[0].

For instance, if 4 individuals in a household every obtain $500 per thirty days (for a complete household advantage of $2,000) however the household’s allowed most is $1,800, the Social Safety Administration reduces every individual’s profit by $50.

Methods to apply for kids’s Social Safety survivor advantages

Social Safety doesn’t robotically ship cash to a baby when a guardian dies. The kid’s guardian ought to take motion instantly to safe the advantages for the kid. In some instances, Social Safety advantages are based mostly on the date you apply, not when the guardian died.

• You should apply for the $255 lump-sum fee inside two years of the date of dying with the intention to be eligible^[0].

• You possibly can apply for Social Safety advantages over the cellphone or at any Social Safety workplace. The nationwide toll-free quantity is 800-772-1213, or you’ll be able to find a local office on the Social Safety web site.

Be ready to provide these paperwork:

• Kid’s beginning certificates or different proof of beginning or adoption.

• Proof of the guardian’s marriage to the kid’s pure or adoptive guardian if they’re a step-child.

• Proof of the kid’s U.S. citizenship or lawful alien standing if the kid was not born within the U.S.

• W-2 types or self-employment tax returns (if the kid had earnings final yr).

• Grownup Incapacity Report (Type SSA-3368) and Authorization to Disclose Data to the Social Safety Administration (Type SSA-827) if the kid is an grownup who was disabled earlier than age 22.