I sent form in with a copy of the will showing I'm am the executor. Called and they need me to fill out box 2, which says to include children, step children, grandchildren, step grandchildren and great grandchildren, addresses etc. Mom was 85. There are six children left, 18 grandchildren, 21 great grandchildren. All this so they can divide the $1,500.00. Is there anyway to have them just put the money back in the account so I can take care of things and close her estate?
Not sure the category 🤔
https://www.ssa.gov/scam/
I have never ever heard of anything like this and I would assume it is a scam. If this were returnable it would be returnable to her estate, not her heirs. YOU are the one who settles the estate distributing to the heirs and that isn't done until all the BILLS of her estate, funeral expenses and etc are paid for. This doesn't make sense to me at all.
I highly recommend a few hours of time from a Trust and Estate attorney to inform you of how to do all this.
Even if it is legitimate (and it's not), there's no way all those people's information would be needed. Government agencies also don't call you, because they need a paper trail. Everything's done in writing.
So for your mom to have been able to keep a Social Security payment in January, she would have had to lived the entire month of December. If she died on Dec 1, the December payment that was already scheduled on SSA autopay system may have been deposited. If it was, SSA will clawback the payment eventually. If it happened, that is how SSA works. There is no month of death payment.
is this what has happened? If so, Whomever has contacted you now promising a refund of the month of death SS payment is running a scam and getting a ton of personal information on a huge group of people. Now if the scammers got any info from you, everyone has to do some sort of credit freeze and monitor thier banking asap.
yeah it’s awful but these lowlifes know that family is vulnerable after a death. So easier to fall for stuff.
as an aside, you mention that you are the Executor as per moms will.
If mom died leaving no estate, so she died not really owning a home or a car, nothing in her bank accounts, there is no reason for you to do anything to become an Executor or open probate. There is no estate, so no need to do anything. That will is just an artifact. I’d be really really concerned that if you fell for this scam and started speaking with someone saying “they can get you that last $1500 SSA $” that you are now on a sitting-pigeon list to have other scammers contact you or horrors! the other family members that they now know about if you gave them any family members info.
There’s a real cottage industry of scammers who prey on family of the recently deceased. Like if they died owning a home, that info is readily available from tax assessor database….. so the scammers send a bill to the now deceased for work done on the property…. Like for termite remediation for $ 967.89. The bill shows past due and states that if not paid in 30 days then they will place a workmans lien or judgement on the house. Which scares the crap out of the family, so they pay it. It’s all a fraud. Termite stuff and inspection “work”, like to check the roof, are often used as there’s no tangible work done so could be hard to refute. If you fell for one scam, your on a list to get hit up again.