Spousal Benefit Claim almost 2 years after death

[debrabova]

My mom is 87 and she lost her husband 2 years ago.  She is not tech saavy and received no letter from SS so she did nothing about claiming spousal benefits.  When I assisted her to put in the claim, SS gave her the one time death benefit and six months of back spousal benefits.   Shouldn't she be entitled to spousal benefits going back to the time of his death?  She was unaware.  She is 85.  She received no letter from then which they concurred.   I filed a reconsideration on her behalf and it is now more than six months waiting for an answer.  Every time I call I'm told, they are "working on it".  What is my recourse.  Mom is 87 and really could use the funds to live!

[fffred]

This kind of begs the question too as to why mom was not collecting Spousal benefits for the years before her husband died. It almost seems that this husband was not the father of the OP so this may present another wrinkle to this or may provide some explanation for not having collected spousal benefits previously on the deceased. I suppose this is all a moot point at this time.

Speaking from memory here, I think that the SSA can pay benefits going back only 6 months before a new application. So if mom has just applied for spousal/survivor's benefit then the SSA could go back only those 6 months. I'm pretty confident on this point but it is close to my bedtime so I'm not fresh. Okay, this AARP article discusses the issue to some extent  https://www.aarp.org/retirement/social-security/questions-answers/collecting-social-security-benefit...

[GailL1]

@fffred 

Definitely somewhat of a mystery - we do need some clarification and some details to answer the OP.

Just guessing here but it MAY BE that the initial claim was for Spousal benefits - whether on purpose or by mistake - SSA gave her those to which they could legally do - like you said, back 6-months.

Now, it maybe that they only have to go back and file for Survivors benefits.  

They are (2) separate applications with necessary info for each.

I’m with you - I am getting burned out on all of it - not just here but other places too - between SS questions and now with the many Medicare questions hitting the fan now with the changes in 2025 plans and AOE.  

Back to this post question - hopefully the OP can shed more light on details, what they did and what they need to do now, if anything.

See Ya-

[GailL1]

@debrabova 

I think we may have some misunderstanding here -

SPOUSAL benefits are Retirement benefits paid to a spouse based on the record of the other spouse.  Spousal benefits are paid when both of them are alive.

SURVIVORS benefits are those paid to a widow or widower upon the death of their spouse IF the Survivors benefit is greater than what they are then getting on their own record or under the record of somebody else - like another husband.

Are you talking about SPOUSAL Benefits  and not SURVIVORS benefits?

Sorry- the othe way around - Are you talking about Survivors Benefits and Not Spousal Benefits?

Please clarify because they are completely different in amount and eligibility.