As a member of the American workforce, workers in Tennessee and throughout the United States pay into the Social Security benefits system throughout their careers. Then, if at some point you suffer a debilitating injury that prevents you from working, or if you decide to retire, you can begin to draw on these benefits as a form of financial assistance. Fortunately though, if you lose a family member, these benefits don’t just disappear. They then take the form of death benefits, also called survivor benefits. Under Tennessee Social Security Disability laws, death benefits are available to the surviving family members or dependents of a worker who held a job for at least ten years prior to his or her death. If you believe you may be entitled to SSDI death benefits in Tennessee, contact our qualified SSDI attorneys at Michael D. Ponce & Associates today.
In order for surviving family members to be eligible for death benefits from the Social Security Administration (SSA), the worker who passed away must have accrued at least 40 work credits on their Social Security account. A worker accrues one Social Security credit per quarter, which means he or she must have worked at least ten years in order to be fully insured. In general, the amount of SSDI death benefits available to surviving family members depends on the amount of Social Security retirement benefits the worker would have been eligible for had he or she survived, which is based on the worker’s age at the time of death. Payments for SSDI death benefits in Tennessee can be made as one lump sum or in a series of smaller payments made in monthly installments.
Spousal benefits are benefits available only to the surviving spouse in the event of a worker’s death, and are not available to other surviving members of the family. In order for a spouse to receive spousal benefits from the SSA, he or she must be at least 62 years old, unless he or she is currently caring for a disabled child or a child under the age of 16. Even a divorced spouse could be eligible to receive spousal benefits if he or she was married to the deceased worker for at least ten years, and is unmarried and at least 62 years old at the time of the worker’s death. In addition, children of a widow or widower who is receiving Social Security death benefits may have access to additional SSDI benefits from the Social Security Administration.
For many families, receiving SSDI death benefits is critical to supporting loved ones in the event of a death, particularly for those families in which the deceased worker was the primary breadwinner. If you have lost a loved one and you think you might be entitled to death benefits from the Social Security Administration, contact our reputable SSDI attorneys at Michael D. Ponce & Associates to explore your compensation options. Losing a family member is devastating enough; being denied the benefits you deserve by the SSA can be crippling. If your SSDI survivor benefits have been denied by the Social Security Administration, our experienced SSDI lawyers can help. Contact our Nashville-based law firm today and discuss your SSDI claim with an attorney who will work diligently to represent your case.