my brother died october 3 2017 his check was direct deposit into my account as usual as payee. ssa letter says to return october benefit . should i contact bank or how do i do it?

Hi,

I'm sorry for your loss.

Since you were payee for your brother, I'm not sure of the correct answer. I would check with the bank first to see if they can return the check to the U.S. Treasury. If not, you'll likely have to return the funds directly to Social Security.

By the way, if your brother died on October 3rd he would have been entitled to the Social Security payment for September that is normally issued in October. In that case you would likely still need to return the payment, but it would be an underpayment that could be payable per Social Security's regulations. Someone will probably need to complete and submit a form SSA-1724 (https://www.ssa.gov/forms/ssa-1724.html) in order to claim any underpayment due.

Best, Jerry