Custody Following Death of Parent

My question involves a child custody case from the State of Alabama. My husband is Active Duty military. He has an 11 year old daughter and was never married to the mother, but he is on the birth certificate. His daughter's mother (and legal guardian) just passed away suddenly. He had visitation rights and not custody, but now there is no one else to take her so she is coming to live with us in another state. What do we need to do, legally? He stopped paying child support but there was no official record. We are taking her but there is no official record. Also, we heard that as the new guardians following a death, we should be able to get some kind of social security. Is that true? What can we do to make this as official and on-the-record as possible? Thank you in advance!

Any social security survivor benefits would be based on her Mom's social security record. It can't hurt to apply.

As the only remaining parent, he needs to file for custody immediately. That's it, really.

A question though. Where is she currently, and has your husband had regular visitation?

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Quoting Rachxl

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He stopped paying child support but there was no official record.

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By that do you mean that there was never an order for child support to be paid? If not, then no action is necessary. If so, it would be important to make sure that the order is terminated lest the state mistakenly conclude that he has accrued massive arrears. Alabama DHR may be able to assist with the order, if one exists.

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Quoting Rachxl

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We are taking her but there is no official record.

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I'm not sure what you mean by "there is no official record". Do you mean that there is not, and never has been, a child custody order?

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Quoting Rachxl

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Also, we heard that as the new guardians following a death, we should be able to get some kind of social security. Is that true?

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The child may qualify for survivors benefits.

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Quoting Dogmatique

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As the only remaining parent, he needs to file for custody immediately. That's it, really.

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With the mother being deceased, there is no need to file for custody -- there's no other parent against whom such a case could be filed. If there's a custody and support order in effect, though, for the aforementioned reasons it makes sense to petition for its dismissal.

If some other party is opposed to dad taking custody and is petitioning for guardianship, dad should oppose that petition, but it doesn't sound like anybody is actually opposed to his taking custody.