Am I entitled to a refund ?

[Bali Hai]

I have no reason to doubt your experience, it's just that most deceased have relatives and they're the ones who report the death.
SSA will only get the death certificate if someone sends it to 'em. The important thing is to report the death since some death certificates can be agonizingly delayed ( you can imagine why )

Seems like a haphazard way to do things. Who is legally responsible to report the death or remarriage of an alimony recipient? It's no wonder why SS and alimony payors are going broke.

 

[>Charlotte<]

I have no reason to doubt your experience, it's just that most deceased have relatives and they're the ones who report the death. SSA will only get the death certificate if someone sends it to 'em. The important thing is to report the death since some death certificates can be agonizingly delayed ( you can imagine why )

My dad's last payment was direct deposited just after he died. Less than a week after the death certificate was issued, we received a notice from SSA that the deposit would be taken back out of the account. Obviously somebody sent it to them, but it wasn't the family.

 

[cbg]

I don't believe it's possible to have a single entity who has legal responsibility. Not everyone has a living parent, or spouse, or child, or any of the above. Not every death is attended by medical personnel, or a nursing home, or a hospice. Unless you want to put the legal onus on the funeral director there isn't a common point of contact that applies to everyone. And while the funeral director theoretically could be responsible to notify the SSA, I don't know how a funeral director could be expected to know or have access to other family, or payers of alimony, or any other connections for that matter.

 

[>Charlotte<]

Well, I got curious and snooped around.

Form SSA-721 "Statement of Death By Funeral Director" indicates that it is not an obligation of the funeral director, but I imagine some/most funeral directors file the form as a courtesy to the family, since somebody has to. This is probably what happened in my case. If the funeral director does not, it would probably be the responsibility of the estate representative, followed by whomever would ultimately have access to or benefit from the money.

In short, I think Pro is correct. The family (or beneficiary) has the ultimate responsibility for notification, but filing the form is often done by the funeral director as a courtesy, or part of the services offered.

 

[Proserpina]

Bali, nobody gives a hoot about you paying or not paying.

The government however.. they're apparently entitled their refund.



Charlotte: comme ci comme ça!

The point was that it's not legally required.

 

[cbg]

I also imagine that some hospitals/nursing homes/hospices do as well. I was curious also because we process death claims here. Sometimes we notify the annuity company and sometimes they notify us, depending on who the family notifies first or who sees (and recognizes) the death notice. So I asked one of the consultants who processes them, and she said we didn't, but her guess was the hospital or funeral director most of the time.

 

[Proserpina]

sorry, cross-posted

 

[Silverplum]

Arizona, personal experience x2: notifying SSA was a job for the executor of the estate.

So clearly, it's different all around the USA.

 

[Bali Hai]

Bali, nobody gives a hoot about you paying or not paying.

The government however.. they're apparently entitled their refund.



Charlotte: comme ci comme ça!

The point was that it's not legally required.

I elected that government and I'm just entitled to my refund as thay are. The only people who don't give a hoot are the people collecting a free ride.

 

[tuffbrk]

Seems like a haphazard way to do things. Who is legally responsible to report the death or remarriage of an alimony recipient? It's no wonder why SS and alimony payors are going broke.

This was an interesting post all around. Certainly I hadn't considered that no one is responsible for notifying the party garnishing your check! My solution -->Set up a google alert for your ex's name and state of residence. Most folks do still publish an obituary so it's one way to better your chances of knowing when you can file to terminate payments. Annoying that you have to pay to file in order to terminate but I sure didn't consider this issue in the midst of my divorce nightmare.

 

[Bali Hai]

This was an interesting post all around. Certainly I hadn't considered that no one is responsible for notifying the party garnishing your check! My solution -->Set up a google alert for your ex's name and state of residence. Most folks do still publish an obituary so it's one way to better your chances of knowing when you can file to terminate payments. Annoying that you have to pay to file in order to terminate but I sure didn't consider this issue in the midst of my divorce nightmare.

You're right, courts only care about alimony recipients. Otherwise the rules would be different. Thank you for your advice tuffbrk.

 

[cbg]

Bali, just out of curiosity, who is your candidate for the entity who should be legally responsible for notifying all possible individuals and agencies?

 

[tuffbrk]

Bali, just out of curiosity, who is your candidate for the entity who should be legally responsible for notifying all possible individuals and agencies?

I have to say that if this situation had crossed my mind during the divorce process I would have requested that the ex's will contain a stipulation that the executor is to notify myself and the Probation Department or accept responsibility to repay any overpaid funds from the "estate." I also would have inquired as to whether Probation does a cross reference with death records prior to disbursing funds. If the answer was no, I would have refused to sign the garnishment paperwork. Refusing the garnishment would have ensured that I would always be aware of my ex's current state of residence, if not their specific address, to simplify tracking their current whereabouts as well as to verify they're still living. As it was, although I declined to sign during mediation, I was ordered to do so at the divorce hearing since I had "no good reason not to." This knowledge would have provided me with at least a leg to stand on.

I'm always learning...love this forum.

 

[Bali Hai]

I have to say that if this situation had crossed my mind during the divorce process I would have requested that the ex's will contain a stipulation that the executor is to notify myself and the Probation Department or accept responsibility to repay any overpaid funds from the "estate." I also would have inquired as to whether Probation does a cross reference with death records prior to disbursing funds. If the answer was no, I would have refused to sign the garnishment paperwork. Refusing the garnishment would have ensured that I would always be aware of my ex's current state of residence, if not their specific address, to simplify tracking their current whereabouts as well as to verify they're still living. As it was, although I declined to sign during mediation, I was ordered to do so at the divorce hearing since I had "no good reason not to." This knowledge would have provided me with at least a leg to stand on.

I'm always learning...love this forum.

To this I will add that in the case of remarriage, the person receiving alimony should be legally required to make the notification. In my state the statute says it is the payors responsiblility to find out. Why?

 

[LdiJ]

To this I will add that in the case of remarriage, the person receiving alimony should be legally required to make the notification. In my state the statute says it is the payors responsiblility to find out. Why?

Bali, you didn't answer the question asked. The question asked is who do you think should be responsible when one of the parties dies.

By the way...I am going to retract what I previously said about when my dad died. After reading some other responses I think that I made the assumption that the issuance of my dad's death certificate is what notified the SSA. Now, I think that the funeral director may have been the one who made the notification. The funeral director arranged for the death certificates to be issued to my mother, and I suspect that notifying the SSA was part and parcel of their services. All I can say with absolute certainty is that when my mother went to the SSA to arrange for changes in her benefits based on dad's death, the SSA already knew that dad had died...because I was present at the time.