How to Receive Father's Support when 18

[lauraamazing]

MD.

i'm 17 and have recently graduated high school. i will be attending college full time in the fall and will be 18 in late September. in 2005 when i was 11, my father passed away from a massive heart attack. after his death, i being his minor child, recieved survivors benefits. at least,my mother did. it is my understanding she recieved two seperate checks for me until i was 16. she now only recieves one for me of about a thousand dollars. i do not see any of that money. my mother says its for me "to go into the house to raise me" and all that good crap. that is not the issue,however. the issue is, my mother is a very last minute person and i know this is not a last minute process. when i tur 18, i want my check. do i have to call myself to the social security office to let them know i will be attending college? i have been told that if i'm in school and 18, i will be able to have my father's support. i will be 18, however, after i'm in school.
i'm not sure really what to do, who to call, when to call, what to say. i just dont want it to be disrupted or sent to my mother after iim 18. please help. thanks

[flyingron]

I've got bad news for you. Benefits stop at 18 unless you are disabled or still in secondary (high) school. Even if you were still in high school, the benefits end at 19.
You do not get to continue benefits for being a college student.

Your understanding is most likely wrong, by the way. She most likely got benefits for herself up until the point you were 16, but that's not "for you."

[Janke]

Survivor's benefits are paid to partially replace the lost earnings of the wage-earner, your deceased father, since he was no longer there to go to work to support you. Support includes housing and food. It would have been nice if your mother had saved money for your for college from the survivor benefits, but it might have meant that your childhood would not have been as pleasant.

Having said that, I do think that it is immoral for a parent to expect that Social Security survivor benefits payable to a child to be the only support that is provided to a household, just like child support should not be the only money supporting a household. The surviving parent should also do something to support themselves. The law doesn't require it though.

If you were still in high school when you turned 18, the checks would automatically be sent to you and you would have to supply proof that you were still in high school. But that is not the case for you. If you were emancipated, living on your own, before you turn age 18 and you could prove it, you could apply to be your own payee and it would be considered.

Decades ago, benefits continued through college, but that was eliminated by a change in law.