Do You Have to Pay Back Social Security When Someone Dies?

Yes, you do. It’s a little confusing but not hard to figure out if you remember two things:

Social Security benefits are paid a month behind. April’s benefits are paid in May, May’s in June, and so on.
Social Security regulations require that a person live an entire month to receive a benefit for that month. There are no prorated benefit payments.

Most Social Security recipients get paid on the second, third or fourth Wednesday of each month, depending on their birthdate. Suppose your spouse got her scheduled benefit on January 15, 2025, and died on January 30. Her family or her estate is entitled to keep the January 15 payment because it was for December’s benefit.

In fact, they would be entitled to keep that money even if she had died January 1 because the payment was for December, a month she lived through.

However, the family or estate is not entitled to keep the January benefit scheduled to arrive in February, even though she was alive for almost all of January. She was not alive for the entire month and that is the determining factor. If that February payment is made because the Social Security Administration (SSA) was not notified promptly of the beneficiary’s death, it must be returned.

Social Security recommends contacting the bank or financial institution where your spouse’s benefits were deposited to arrange for the return of any posthumous payments.

Keep in mind

Funeral homes generally will report a death to Social Security. (The SSA provides a form for funeral directors to perform this function.) If you want this service, be sure to provide the funeral home with the deceased’s Social Security number.
You can also report the death yourself by calling Social Security at 800-772-1213 or contacting your local Social Security office.
Depending on your age and family status and your own Social Security eligibility, you may qualify for survivor benefits upon a spouse’s death.

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Andy Markowitz is a writer and editor for AARP, covering Social Security and fraud. He is a former editor of The Prague Post and Baltimore City Paper.

Tracy Thompson is a journalist and editor who has worked for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Washington Post. She is the author of three books and lives with her family in the Washington, D.C., suburbs.