Survivor Benefits: Claim Social Security, Va Dic, and Erisa Rights

Social Security survivor benefits are available to the surviving spouse, children, and dependent parents of a worker who was insured under the Social Security program, and the specific benefit available to each category of survivor depends on the survivor's age, relationship to the deceased worker, and the presence of dependent children in the household, and the surviving spouse's monthly benefit amount is calculated as a percentage of the deceased worker's primary insurance amount, ranging from seventy-five percent for a surviving spouse caring for a child under age sixteen to one hundred percent for a surviving spouse who has reached full retirement age. Social-security-act and veteran-benefits-denied counsel can evaluate whether the surviving spouse, child, or dependent parent satisfies the specific eligibility requirements for Social Security survivor benefits or VA DIC, assess whether any prior claim was denied on grounds that can be successfully appealed, and advise on the most effective strategy for establishing and maximizing the total survivor benefit entitlement.

The table below identifies the four principal survivor benefit programs available in the United States, the specific eligibility criteria for each program, the governing federal statute, and the most important deadline or limitation applicable to each program.

Life-insurance-death-benefits and death-benefit-insurance counsel can advise on the specific documentation required to establish the beneficiary's right to receive life insurance death benefits, assess whether the insurer's request for additional documentation or investigation is a legitimate claims adjustment requirement or a bad faith delay tactic, and develop the claims presentation strategy for obtaining prompt payment of the full death benefit.

ERISA's qualified pre-retirement survivor annuity requirement obligates any qualified retirement plan to provide an automatic survivor annuity for the surviving spouse of a vested plan participant who dies before reaching the plan's normal retirement date, and the plan participant who wishes to waive this automatic benefit in favor of a different beneficiary or benefit form must obtain the written consent of the spouse, and the waiver and consent must be executed during a specific election period that the plan is required to define and communicate to plan participants. Employee-benefits and gray-divorce counsel can advise on the specific ERISA spousal rights applicable to the surviving spouse of a plan participant, assess whether the plan's pre-retirement survivor annuity was properly offered and whether the participant's waiver of the QPSA was validly executed with the required written spousal consent, and develop the legal strategy for enforcing the surviving spouse's ERISA benefit rights.

The survivor who has received a denial of any survivor benefit claim should immediately identify the administrative appeal process applicable to the denial, because the failure to file a timely administrative appeal will in most cases bar the survivor from filing a civil lawsuit, and the appeal deadline for ERISA plan benefit denials is sixty days from the date of the denial letter under the plan's claims procedures, the appeal deadline for a VA DIC denial is one year from the date of the rating decision, and the appeal deadline for a Social Security denial is sixty days from the date of the notice of determination plus five days for mailing. Life-insurance-claim-denial and bad-faith-insurance counsel can advise on the specific legal standards applicable to a challenge of a denied survivor benefit claim, assess whether the denial is based on a legally sufficient ground and whether the applicable administrative appeal deadline has been preserved, and develop the administrative appeal strategy for overturning the denial and obtaining the full benefit award.

The Social Security lump-sum death payment of two hundred and fifty-five dollars is a one-time payment available only to the surviving spouse or eligible child of the deceased insured worker, and this modest payment is separate from and in addition to the monthly survivor benefit, and the application for the lump-sum death payment must be filed within two years of the worker's death, and the payment is made to the surviving spouse if the spouse was living in the same household as the deceased worker at the time of death or was already receiving Social Security benefits. Wrongful-death and civil-damages-lawsuit counsel can advise on the specific legal remedies available to a surviving spouse or dependent who suspects the decedent's death was caused by a third party's negligence, assess whether the survivor's wrongful death claim is consistent with and complementary to the survivor benefit claims, and develop the coordinated strategy for pursuing both the wrongful death claim and the full survivor benefit entitlement.

The life insurance beneficiary dispute arises when multiple parties claim the right to receive the same death benefit payment, and the most common causes of beneficiary disputes include failure to update the beneficiary designation after a divorce, conflicting beneficiary designations in different policy documents, challenges to the validity of a beneficiary change made when the insured was allegedly incapacitated, and disputes about whether a named beneficiary predeceased the insured, and the life insurance company that cannot determine the correct beneficiary may file an interpleader action in federal court to deposit the policy proceeds and require the competing claimants to litigate their respective rights. Inheritance-dispute and will-bequests counsel can advise on the specific legal standards applicable to a beneficiary dispute involving competing claims to life insurance proceeds, retirement account death benefits, or other survivor benefit payments, assess whether the disputed beneficiary designation is legally valid, and develop the interpleader or declaratory judgment strategy for resolving the competing claims.

The VA DIC benefit provides a monthly payment to the surviving spouse, child, or dependent parent of a veteran who died in service or who died from a service-connected condition, and the DIC benefit is not means-tested and is not offset by Social Security benefits or other income, and the DIC benefit for a surviving spouse is a flat rate payment that was four hundred and thirty-six dollars per month in 2020 and has been increased annually by the cost-of-living adjustment, with additional supplements available for the surviving spouse who is housebound, who requires the aid and attendance of another person, or who has dependent children. Inheritance-law and inheritance-litigation counsel can advise on the specific administrative appeal procedures applicable to a denied Social Security survivor benefit claim, a denied VA DIC claim, or a denied ERISA survivor benefit claim, assess whether the denial was based on a legal or factual error that can be corrected on appeal, and develop the appeals strategy for obtaining a favorable decision before pursuing judicial review.

The military Survivor Benefit Plan is a voluntary annuity program that a retiring service member may elect at retirement to provide a continuing income stream to the surviving spouse or other eligible beneficiaries after the service member's death, and the SBP annuity is calculated as fifty-five percent of the covered retired pay, and the service member who elects SBP coverage pays a monthly premium that is deducted from the retired pay, and the SBP annuity is offset by any VA DIC benefit the surviving spouse receives but the surviving spouse who is entitled to both SBP and DIC may be eligible for the special survivor indemnity allowance. Third-party-beneficiary-contracts and insurance-claim-lawsuit counsel can advise on the full range of survivor benefit claims available to a surviving family member, assess whether the survivor has filed all available claims within the applicable deadlines, and develop the integrated multi-program survivor benefit strategy that maximizes the total financial support available from all applicable federal, state, and private sources.