My Brother Died on December 23rd – Does He Get Social Security for December?

Dear Executor Sister:

Please accept our sincere condolences on your brother’s passing.  FYI, according to Social Security law, all SS benefits are paid in the month following the month they are earned, which means two in things in this circumstance:

1. Any SS payment your brother received during the month of December (his month of death) is legally his (or his estate’s) because that payment was for the month before he died (November 2025).

2. Any SS benefits received thereafter (e.g., SS benefits paid in January 2026 for the month of December 2025) must be returned to Social Security (the bank which received his SS payments would normally handle this automatically if they were notified of your brother’s death).

Social Security benefits are not paid for the month of death because the beneficiary did not live the entire month, and SS benefits are not paid for partial months. So even though your brother lived about 3/4ths of the month of December, he (his estate) will not get any SS benefits for the month of December. Indeed, even those who pass shortly before midnight on the last day of the month do not get Social Security benefits for the month they died.

For additional information, if your brother was married and his wife is still living, she would be entitled to a one-time, lump sum death benefit of $255 (if she is also eligible for her own SS retirement benefit). And, depending on her own SS retirement amount, she might also be eligible for a surviving spouse benefit as your brother’s widow.