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Thread Revival! If there is anyone still willing to answer legal questions, I have an interesting one. My mother-in-law is 62 and her husband passed away 8 years ago. She JUST found out that she was eligible to recieve his Social Security benefits starting at age 60 because she is a widow. She missed out being paid something like $37,000. During that time, she has been living on his pension and regular withdrawals from her investments. Is there any legal recourse for her to get that money back? She asked her CPA that does her taxes and he seemed to indicate that she would have had to apply to begin receiving benefits at 60. The fact that she didn't apply then (the CPA that she has been using for 5 years didn't remind her) means that she is out of luck. This doesn't seem right. Can anything be done?
It seems to me that the Social Security Administration owes her back the amount of benefits that she was due. When her husband was paying into SS all of those years, the process of stealing his money away was automatic and mandatory. But now that she is supposed to get some back, it is up to her to apply to get the money back. What a crock! What can she do?
Thanks in advance.
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