Survivor benefit

What it means

A survivor benefit is not a one-off payment of what was left. It is an ongoing entitlement, usually based on the deceased person's own record of work or contributions.

Social Security pays survivor benefits to some widows, widowers, dependent children and dependent parents. Pensions and annuities may pay a surviving spouse a continuing share, depending on what was elected when payments began.

Eligibility usually depends on relationship, age, and sometimes on whether the survivor is caring for a child.

Why it matters

It is frequently the largest sum a surviving spouse will receive, and it is frequently missed, because nothing prompts a family to ask.

Some benefits are not paid retrospectively for the full period, so applying late can cost real money that cannot be recovered.

When you are likely to meet it

• When notifying Social Security of a death.
• When a pension administrator asks which option was elected at retirement.
• When a surviving spouse's own benefit is smaller than the one they could claim as a survivor.

Related terms

• Beneficiary designationA named person on an account or policy who receives it directly on death, without it passing through the will or probate.
• COBRA continuation coverageThe right to keep an employer's health insurance for a period after the event that would otherwise end it — including the death of the employee.
• DD Form 214The discharge document proving military service. Almost every veterans' benefit after a death depends on producing it.
• DependentSomebody who relies on you. It is a defined term in tax and in benefit programs, and it is not a category in inheritance law at all.
• Federal retirement benefitsThe pension and insurance system for federal civilian employees — FERS or the older CSRS, plus group life cover, each with its own beneficiary record.
• Lump-sum death paymentA one-off Social Security payment to a surviving spouse or, in some cases, a dependent child.
• MedicareThe federal health insurance program for people aged sixty-five and over, and for some younger people with disabilities. It does not pay for long-term care.
• Railroad retirement benefitsA separate federal retirement and survivor system for railroad workers, run by its own board rather than by Social Security.
• Social Security overpayment after a deathA benefit is not payable for the month somebody dies, and anything paid after has to go back.
• Survivor annuityA continuing pension payment to a surviving spouse, if that option was chosen when the pension started.
• Thrift Savings PlanThe retirement savings plan for federal employees and members of the uniformed services.
• Veterans' burial benefitsWhat a veteran's family may claim after a death: interment in a national cemetery, a headstone or marker, a burial flag, and in some cases an allowance toward costs.

Official sources

The authority this page describes, at the agency that publishes it. Sahvelo does not restate a rule from a secondary source.

• Social Security — survivors benefits (opens in a new tab)

Sahvelo guidance that uses this

• Social Security after a death
• Pensions