Author Topic: Question on Social Security Survivor Benefits  (Read 1836 times)

pstu24

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Question on Social Security Survivor Benefits
« on: June 11, 2017, 07:48:56 AM »
I'm going through my annual "checkup" of finances where I plug all of my numbers into a spreadsheet covering everything. It's like a financial analysis with all sorts of sims and projections.

One of the things I am looking at now (with a baby under the age of 1) is the insurance and "worst-case scenario" tab.

I went to ssa.gov and looked at all of my info, and one thing it has under the "Survivor" section of estimated benefits is the amount of money my child would receive and the amount of money my wife would receive if I were to die.

Those two numbers are identical. Is that just a coincidence? Or is it just one payment of $X to each of them (and not $X to my wife and then $X to my child IN ADDITION to my wife)?

Just looking for clarification!

Paul der Krake

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Re: Question on Social Security Survivor Benefits
« Reply #1 on: June 11, 2017, 08:04:31 AM »
They are separate, but in all likelihood would be paid both to your surviving spouse.

Note that there is a total family benefit that cannot be exceeded.

pstu24

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Re: Question on Social Security Survivor Benefits
« Reply #2 on: June 11, 2017, 08:12:02 AM »
Perfect! Thanks for your help.

The two amounts are still just under the total family paid amount, but I also need to report this to my wife in a way that says "Worst case scenario you are covered ..." and less of a "Look how much you get if I'm out of the picture ..." :)