We adopted our daughter when she was 4. Her birth mother is still alive but her birth father died years ago. Is she entitled to survivor benefits from him?
It would depend if she was his daughter, yours or a ward of the state at the time of his death.
I don’t know since you adopted her. I doubt it.
I would think the money would first go to any other kids he might have who are his heirs. Your daughter is your heir.
Maybe up until you adopted her.
Her dad (our son) died when she was 9 months old and her mother's parental rights have been permanently severed by CPS and the family courts here in Florida because of her neglect, drug and alcohol abuse and being in and out of jail regularly for various offenses.
But we have been receiving the child's SS disability check from the government because of her dad's employment before he died. We put it in the bank every month for her and set up a trust for her to draw from when she reaches her majority. Giving a kid a big pot of money all at once when they can legally have access to it is not good idea. Most of them would squander it away before you knew it.
By my conservative calculations, she'll have close to a quarter of a million dollars in the trust when she comes of age. Pretty good grub stake to start her adult life with, especially if she can't have it all at once to waste.
But we never saw any evidence of dishonesty or fraud on the part of the CPS in having access to her money. We just filed to have the monthly stipend direct deposited into a savings account every month.