topic Re: 60 minute segment on Social Security in Community Chat

60 minute segment on Social Security

KathyPet — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 00:26:28 GMT

This woman interviewed in this story on SS received her deceased mother's disability payments for over 30 years after her mother's death. She never questioned the continuation of the benefits because her mother told her she would be entitled to,them after her mother's death. She never questioned the continuation of the benefits and she never reported her mother's death to SS. She said she thought the funeral,director would take care of doing it. The SSA finally discovered that her mother had not used her Medicare benefits in 30 years and questioned it. Now the daughter was found guilty of a felony and is facing a year in jail. I have absolutely no sympathy for her. Why would you think you were entitled to receive someone else's disability payments and never check to be sure?

Re: 60 minute segment on Social Security

tansy — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 00:28:30 GMT

Did she seem to be mentally challenged?

Re: 60 minute segment on Social Security

Lacey1 — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 00:29:26 GMT

Simple: She may have gotten very dependent on that money, and figured Mom had earned it-and she needed it more than the SS office did. Probably happens every day.

Re: 60 minute segment on Social Security

KathyPet — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 00:30:10 GMT

No she was perfectly well spoken. She is a mother, a grandmother and she and her husband both have or had good well paying jobs.

Re: 60 minute segment on Social Security

tansy — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 00:32:30 GMT

On 3/15/2015 KathyPet said: No she was perfectly well spoken. She is a mother, a grandmother and she and her husband both have or had good well paying jobs.

Thanks. I was trying to figure out why her mother supposedly told her she was entitled to the SS payments:/

Re: 60 minute segment on Social Security

Marienkaefer2 — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 00:33:21 GMT

I don't agree with jail time. I think she should be required to pay back the money. If she's had well putaying jobs, she should be able to at least work out a payment arrangement.

Re: 60 minute segment on Social Security

Gooday — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 00:33:36 GMT

She got caught plain and simple. Doh!

Re: 60 minute segment on Social Security

foundinlv — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 00:36:14 GMT

Not only should she do time in jail but repay that money. Clearly, there is a failure in the ss system that can't catch these type of offenses. When my mother-in-law passed away I got on the phone with social security within days to report it....I was only in my 30's. Gee, how did I know to do that?

Re: 60 minute segment on Social Security

KathyPet — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 00:37:50 GMT

Yes but these were not strictly speaking SS payments although the SSA pays the benefits these were disability payments paid out because her mother was disabled so why you would you think,you (a grown adult) were entitled to get disability payments after the intended receipent died?

Re: 60 minute segment on Social Security

RainCityGirl — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 00:37:50 GMT

Who on earth handled the mother's estate? You are required to report the death to Social Security immediately. If it's at the end of the month, you can keep what your mother was paid for that month to handle the estate. If the death occurs in the middle or first of the month, SS will reclaim the amount left immediately. Usually, the funeral director will give you all the information about death certificates, etc. Many places require a death certificate before anything else happens. Life Insurance particularly needs a certificate, and you can't trust them to say they got it unless you send it signature required. Unless you are a joint tenant right to survivorship on an account or a designated power of attorney, you can't take any of those funds without going through proper channels. If there is real property, you have to probate the estate. Medicare requires a notice of death as well. If all these steps were taken, I find it hard to believe that SS did not contact the inheritor of the estate immediately. I also wonder with computers, why it took 30 years to notice no one was using medicare benefits. I too wonder if this person was mentally challenged, in which case, someone should have stepped in. And the last I checked, the law doesn't accept ignorance as an excuse. How could anyone grow up in this country and not know most of the important details regarding death. I suspect she thought she could get some easy money and not be caught....she was right, at least for 30 years.

Re: 60 minute segment on Social Security

tansy — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 00:39:26 GMT

My mother died the third week of the month and I was instructed to return the check but I called SS right away.

Re: 60 minute segment on Social Security

KathyPet — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 00:43:02 GMT

Just because she got death certificates does not mean she notified the SSA of her mother's death. She did not and the benefits just kept being paid via (I assume) direct deposit into the joint account she had with her mother. Collecting life insurance, going through probate which may not even have occurred if there were no assets or liabilities or will has nothing to do with reporting a death to the SSA.

Re: 60 minute segment on Social Security

Gooday — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 00:43:30 GMT

When my dad and I were sitting in the funeral director's office the day my mom died, he walked us through this process. We knew but, he did it anyway. I would imagine they all do this.

Did any funeral directors share this information with any of you posters?

Re: 60 minute segment on Social Security

KathyPet — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 00:49:13 GMT

On 3/15/2015 Gooday said:
When my dad and I were sitting in the funeral director's office the day my mom died, he walked us through this process. We knew but, he did it anyway. I would imagine they all do this.

Did any funeral directors share this information with any of you posters?

My parents died many years ago and I do not remember but I do know that I notified the SSA of my father's death myself within a couple of weeks of his death.

Re: 60 minute segment on Social Security

foundinlv — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 00:50:11 GMT

On 3/15/2015 Gooday said:
When my dad and I were sitting in the funeral director's office the day my mom died, he walked us through this process. We knew but, he did it anyway. I would imagine they all do this.

Did any funeral directors share this information with any of you posters?

No. My husband had his mom cremated and there was no service. We were not given any information. My husband too had a joint account with his mother when the end became near....his mother did so in person at the credit union.

Re: 60 minute segment on Social Security

RainCityGirl — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 00:51:46 GMT

On 3/15/2015 KathyPet said: Just because she got death certificates does not mean she notified the SSA of her mother's death. She did not and the benefits just kept being paid via (I assume) direct deposit into the joint account she had with her mother. Collecting life insurance, going through probate which may not even have occurred if there were no assets or liabilities or will has nothing to do with reporting a death to the SSA.

If you're talking to me, I never said that. I pointed out that you have to submit death certificates to various places upon a death for proof. I was also pointing out that even life insurance has to have a death certificate to collect. As a matter of fact, I was just listing all the things that have to occur after a death and must be reported. I did not link them ALL to SS, but instead noted things that have to be done. My first statements covered the SS requirement. The death certificates came up in mentioning the funeral home information that is given out. Geez. I thought I was being very clear with what I said. I've executed my dad's estate, my mother's estate, and my aunt's estate. I'm not just making up a bunch of things to post here.

Re: 60 minute segment on Social Security

tansy — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 00:53:13 GMT

On 3/15/2015 Ilikeshade said:
On 3/15/2015 Gooday said:
When my dad and I were sitting in the funeral director's office the day my mom died, he walked us through this process. We knew but, he did it anyway. I would imagine they all do this.

Did any funeral directors share this information with any of you posters?

No. My husband had his mom cremated and there was no service. We were not given any information. My husband too had a joint account with his mother when the end became near....his mother did so in person at the credit union.

Not that I remember. My parents had prepaid for their cremations and crypt. They did not want a service. I was surprised to be asked to return that mont's check but knew I needed to let them know she had died, as well as the pension plan. I'm smart that way

Re: 60 minute segment on Social Security

RainCityGirl — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 00:53:46 GMT

On 3/15/2015 Gooday said:
When my dad and I were sitting in the funeral director's office the day my mom died, he walked us through this process. We knew but, he did it anyway. I would imagine they all do this.

Did any funeral directors share this information with any of you posters?

Yes, all of it, plus I later got more info when I was executor first of my dad's estate and then I executed two other estates. There was a laundry list given that I checked off.

Re: 60 minute segment on Social Security

JustJazzmom — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 00:55:35 GMT

All I know is that funeral directors mentioned how many death certificates you might need to order for various notifications.

It boggles the mind that someone would not question why they are still getting their mother's SS payments.

It's up to the living survivors to notify all agencies that the deceased was involved with in their lives.

This also means notifying homeowner's insurance, property assessors of the town where your relative lived-- certain benefits are no longer available if a person dies still owning a house (if a person was a Veteran and was entitled to Veteran's exemption on their property or school taxes.)

I hope the woman has to pay back the SS Administration for all those payments!

Re: 60 minute segment on Social Security

sgraham30 — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 00:55:48 GMT

When my mother died, the funeral parlor that we used reported her death to Social Security. I then had to fill out forms giving the names, addresses, & relation to deceased for the 3 of us kids. I had to send the completed/signed documentation to a specific address that I was given by Social Security. Her last benefit check was split into thirds, with each of us getting 1/3 of her monthly benefit.

I'm not sure about the jail time but this woman should most definitely have to pay back whatever amount she received in benefits over the 30+ years that she received the benefits.