Try To Get Paid Before Checking Out

     From a recent report by Social Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG):

... When underpaid beneficiaries are deceased, SSA should pay the underpayment to a surviving spouse, child, or parent or to the legal representative of the decedent’s estate. ...

SSA did not always take proper actions to pay underpayments due terminated beneficiaries. In December 2015, SSA improved systems controls to pay underpayments due deceased beneficiaries to eligible surviving spouses. However, this control does not identify underpayments due to all terminated beneficiaries. For the 100 terminated beneficiaries in our sample, we found

• 39 had underpayments that should be paid to eligible beneficiaries;
• 25 were cases where SSA did not locate the beneficiaries or individuals who were eligible for the underpayments;
• 7 had erroneous underpayments that should have been corrected or removed from the Master Beneficiary Record; and
• 29 were correctly paid or resolved. ...

      When one of my clients dies, which is not a rare occurrence, I always make sure to find and alert the person due whatever back benefits there may be. I've always had the impression that unless I did it or some survivor of the decedent contacted Social Security, there was a good chance that it wouldn't get done, that the back benefits would never get paid.

     By the way, it's also not unusual for one of my clients to ask what happens if they die before getting paid. Yes, some of them are pessimistic enough to ask that question even though they're not facing a life threatening condition.