Social Security benefits typically serve as a source of income during retirement, but some people are eligible for benefits much earlier—during childhood. Some children can receive benefits based on their parents’ earnings history, but the Social Security Administration doesn’t automatically inform people that their children might be eligible for benefits—it’s often up to parents to figure this out and apply.
Bottom Line Personal asked Social Security expert Martha Shedden, CRPC, RSSA, for details about Social Security benefits for children of disabled parents…retirement age parents…and deceased parents…
Who Is Eligible?
If a parent who is currently receiving Social Security retirement or disability benefits has children younger than 18, those children usually are eligible to receive benefits based on the parent’s earnings record. The child’s benefits typically end when he/she reaches age 18…or when he graduates high school or at age 19 and two months, whichever comes first. There is no age cap if the child is disabled before age 22. Similar rules apply for a child whose parent is deceased, assuming that the parent accumulated sufficient work history to be Social Security eligible before dying. (Note: In general, it takes at least 10 years of work to reach the 40 Social Security credits required to be eligible for benefits.)
Related: When a child receives Social Security benefits based on a parent’s earnings record, a spouse or widow of that parent who serves as caregiver for the child also could be eligible to receive benefits—even if he/she isn’t yet old enough to claim other Social Security spousal or survivor benefits. These caregiver benefits typically end when the child turns 16, though they can continue if the child is disabled before age 22.
Both biological and adopted children are eligible to receive Social Security benefits based on a parent’s earning history…or potentially a grandparent’s earning history, if the grandparent legally adopts the grandchild or has been providing at least half of their financial support. Stepchildren can be eligible as well, under certain circumstances.
How Much Do Kids Get?
If a child receives Social Security benefits because his/her parent is currently receiving retirement or disability benefits, that child’s monthly benefit will be up to 50% of the parent’s “primary insurance amount” (PIA)—in other words, up to half of the amount that the parent gets each month if that parent claimed his benefit at “full retirement age.”
If the parent is deceased, the child can receive a survivor benefit of up to 75% of the benefit that the parent was receiving or—if the parent hadn’t yet begun receiving benefits—up to 75% of the amount the parent would have been eligible to receive at full retirement age.
Caution: The phrase “up to” is important due to the “family maximum payment” rule. The total amount a family can claim based on a particular worker’s earnings history generally cannot exceed 150% to 180% of that worker’s PIA. If multiple children and/or a spouse all claim benefits based on that worker’s earning history, the benefit that each of these relatives receives could be significantly reduced to prevent the total from exceeding this maximum. The worker’s own benefit won’t be reduced. Important: Benefits claimed by a divorced former spouse based on an ex’s earnings history don’t count toward that ex’s family maximum.
