My brother past away and had not collected social security he was not married his children don't qualify My mom is 86 and getting social security benefits we were told that she could be entitled to his my brothers benefits Is that possible?

Hi,

I'm sorry for your loss.

Your mother could only qualify for benefits on your brother's record if she was financially dependent on him at the time of his death. For more information on parent's benefits, refer to this Social Security publication: https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10036.pdf.

Social Security is like insurance, not an individual retirement account. There is no guarantee that paying Social Security taxes will ever result in the payment of any benefits, unless the worker and/or his eligible dependents or survivors qualify for a type of benefit specified in Social Security laws (e.g. retirement benefits, child benefits, widow(er) benefits, etc.).

Best, Jerry