Hello. My wife recently died of cancer She had been receiving disability payments from social security as she was no longer able to work due to the cancer. We have a six year old daughter who was also getting payments due to my wife's disability. I went to social security this week; my daughter will now be getting an increase (from 50% to 75%) in her benefit. I am 49 and make almost $90,000 a year so was told that I was over-income to receive any "child in care" payment. I thought I read somewhere that due to my being over-income, my daughter's benefit would increase again. Did I make that up?

Hi,

First of all, I'm very sorry for your loss. My condolences go out to you.

It sounds like your daughter is getting the correct benefit rate. The benefit rate for a surviving child can never exceed 75% of the deceased parent's full unreduced benefit rate, which is also called a primary insurance amount (PIA). The only time that a child's benefit increases when a parent stops receiving child-in-care benefits is when the child was receiving a lower benefit due to the family maximum.

For example, say a deceased worker had a PIA of $1600, a family maximum benefit of $3000, and 2 surviving children and a spouse who are eligible for survivor benefits on the account. Each of the 3 survivors would normally be due $1200 (i.e. 75% of the PIA), but since their total payments can't exceed $3000, their benefit rates would be reduced to $1000 each. In that case, if the parent stopped receiving benefits due to the earnings limit, the children's benefits would be increased to their full rate of $1200.

In your case, with only you and your daughter potentially eligible for survivor benefits, the family maximum would not affect your benefit rates even if both of you were getting benefits. Therefore, your entitlement or non-entitlement to child-in-care benefits has no effect on your daughter's benefit rate.

Best, Jerry