When someone who receives Social Security or Medicare dies, you must notify the Social Security Administration (SSA) to cancel their benefits and payments.
How to report a death to Social Security and Medicare
The SSA handles death reports for both Social Security and Medicare recipients. To report a death, you can do one of the following:
Provide the deceased person's Social Security number to the funeral director so they can report the death to the SSA.
SSA only accepts reports of death by phone or in person. They do not accept reports by email or online.
If you report the death to SSA yourself instead of through a funeral director, you may do so without the deceased person’s death certificate to begin the process. But you will need it later to complete the report.
How to return a deceased person’s Social Security payment
The SSA cannot pay benefits for the month of a recipient’s death. That means if the person died in July, the check or direct deposit received in August (which is payment for July) must be returned.
If the payment is by direct deposit, notify the financial institution as soon as possible. Ask them to return the payment for the month the recipient died and any that arrived later.
If you need to report a death or apply for benefits, call 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778). You can speak to one of our representatives between 8:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.
You should notify us immediately when a person dies. However, you cannot report a death or apply for survivors benefits online. In most cases, the funeral home will report the person's death to us. You should give the funeral home the deceased person's Social Security number if you want them to make the report.
The funeral director should report the death to the Social Security Administration (SSA) for you. If they do not, you must do this as soon as possible. SSA will notify Medicare. Any Social Security benefits the person was receiving will stop.
Nonetheless, Social Security payments are sometimes sent after someone's death, and the payment must be returned. Returning the check requires Social Security to contact the bank that received the payment. Receiving that request from Social Security is another way the bank can learn if an account holder died.
Your Social Security number and the deceased worker's Social Security number. A death certificate. (Generally, the funeral director provides a statement that can be used for this purpose.) Proof of the deceased worker's earnings for the previous year (W-2 forms or self-employment tax return).
A surviving spouse, surviving divorced spouse, unmarried child, or dependent parent may be eligible for monthly survivor benefits based on the deceased worker's earnings. In addition, a one-time lump sum death payment of $255 can be made to a qualifying spouse or child if they meet certain requirements.
Once again, when the funeral home reports a death to Social Security, Medicare is informed. When Medicare is informed, all Medicare coverage will be cancelled, including Medicare Part D (prescription drug coverage).
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