SSD Survivor Benefits - The Morgan Law Firm

Could You Get Social Security Disability Widow Benefits, or Widower or Parental Benefits?

Any help you can get is welcome when you’re mourning the loss of a loved one on whom you depended for support.

If your spouse or an adult child who supported you has died—and they received Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits—you may be able to get financial help from Social Security Disability survivors’ benefits.

Your family member qualified for SSDI because they had a substantial work history under Social Security, and as their survivor, you could continue to collect some or all of the benefits that they earned.

Your life is changing abruptly because someone close and important to you has passed. This can be a real financial relief.

At The Morgan Law Firm, we help people appeal denials of disability benefits in South Bend, Elkhart and all over the Michiana region of Michigan and Indiana. We’ve helped thousands of people.

If your loved one received benefits—and you could get widow benefits for Social Security Disability or other family benefits—we want you to know that this kind of help exists and what you need to claim it. That’s why we created this page.

Keep reading for more. Or for help with a disability denial, reach out to us.

Who Can Get Social Security Disability Survivor Benefits?

If you fit one of these descriptions, you can get Social Security Disability survivors’ benefits at the designated levels:

You’re a widow or widower, you’re in your 50s, and you have a disability yourself: You can collect 71.5 percent of your deceased spouse’s benefits.
You’re a widow or widower between age 60 and full retirement age: You can collect between 71.5 percent and 99 percent of your spouse’s disability benefit amount.
You’re a widow or widower at full retirement age: You can collect 100% of your spouse’s benefits.
You’re a widow or widower, at any age, caring for a child under 16: You can collect 75 percent of your spouse’s benefits.
You’re a parent of the benefits recipient who depended on support from your adult child, and you’re at least 62: You could collect 82.5 percent of your child’s benefit if you’re the only parent getting benefits—or each parent could collect 75%

Divorced spouses can also get benefits at the same percentages listed for widows and widowers, but their eligibility depends on their age and whether they are remarried.

And children of a benefits recipient who died, if they’re under 18 (or 19 and in school), can collect 75% of a parent’s benefits.

The same rates apply to survivors of people who received Social Security retirement (not disability) benefits.

But if multiple family members qualify for benefits based on the record of the deceased relative, the amounts per person will be reduced.

Social Security says the total amount an entire family can receive is from 150% to 180% of the deceased person’s benefits.

If all the qualifying family members put together would receive more than that, their individual amounts will be reduced in a way that matches the portions of the whole that they would normally get.

If you’re trying to understand what you qualify for in your particular situation—and especially if Social Security is denying your survivor benefits—you can talk to a disability lawyer from The Morgan Law Firm.

We focus on cases for adults. There’s no cost to have an initial conversation with us.

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What Information Do You Need to File for Social Security Disability Survivors’ Benefits?

You have to turn in a lot of paperwork to get Social Security Disability survivors’ benefits.

Here is some of the main information you must provide:

Death certificate or proof of the qualifying worker’s death
Your birth certificate, or other proof of birth
Your Social Security number
U.S. citizenship confirmation if you weren’t born in the United States
How much the deceased worker earned in recent years
Your earnings in recent years
Whether you were living with the worker at the time that they died
Discharge papers from the military if you served before 1968
Social Security Disability forms if you have a qualifying disability
W-2s or other tax forms
Marriage certificate
Divorce documents if you’re applying as a divorced spouse
When you want your benefits to start
Direct deposit information to receive payments in your bank account

Watch out for this: If you receive disability benefit checks for your spouse or family member dated from the month they died or after, don’t cash those.

Social Security requires you to send those checks back. Instead, apply for survivor benefits.

As you can see from this list, applying for Social Security Disability survivor benefits can be a lot of work. And it all comes at you while you’re grieving. A disability attorney can help you gather the right documentation.

If you apply for survivor benefits and get denied, get in touch with the disability lawyers at The Morgan Law Firm. Our disability law firm is devoted to fighting disability benefit denials for people in Indiana and Michigan.

We want to see you get help—because Social Security Disability survivor benefits can make a difficult time a little easier.

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Social Security Disability and Survivor Benefits in Michiana

Fill out this form for help with your disability benefits

Could You Get Social Security Disability Widow Benefits, or Widower or Parental Benefits?

Who Can Get Social Security Disability Survivor Benefits?

What Information Do You Need to File for Social Security Disability Survivors’ Benefits?