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Generally the Funeral Home takes care of that.

Social Security can request the original and they make a copy and return the original to you.

When my DH passed, I applied for the difference between his Social Security and mine. I brought a death certificate and my marriage license - they scanned both into their system and returned the originals to me. Even though the Funeral Home had notified them, it was just better to be prepared with an original death certificate and I was thanked for bringing it with me.

BTW, I was granted the difference between the 2 amounts. Not a lot of $$ but every little bit helps.
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Toadhall Sep 2018
In your case, they were going to give you more money, so they would want documentation. If they are taking money away, they are all to willing to receive an over the phone, no documents, report. And yes, if your spouse dies, it is always good to go to the office and see if you are entitled to more money.
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Yes you do. You can go in person & show it to them, that’s what we did.
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Talk to the funeral director. Mine notified SS of Moms death. Since I was one death certificate short, he must have sent it.
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My mother passed while in a nursing home. I called SS a day or so after her passing. They took her information and stopped the upcoming deposit. They asked that I bring the death certificate to the office for verification. Went to the SS office, showed the death certificate, they updated whatever in their data base and returned the document.
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Our local funeral homes charge a fee per copy of the death certificate. Part of their "package" of fees.
You can go to the local County Health Department where the deceased died and get certified copies of a death certificate for much less than the funeral home will charge for getting them for you.
I do think SS will require a certified copy. Probably many funeral homes send it to SS routinely.
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Toadhall Sep 2018
I'll say that my experience is that the funeral home fee was one half as much as the State Health department. In most states, it is the State Health department not the county. Also in my state, it took 9 months to extract a birth certificate from them. This was with the state senator kicking them in the butt to hurry up. I don't know what the delay is for a death cert.
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When my mom passed in April, my sister, who works for a funeral home, said I didn't need to do it. That was a service of the funeral home to send it off. Of course, that may be a state law so you may want to check with the funeral home, if you had one, if they do that for you.
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Social Security is usually notified by the funeral home or you can call them.
1-800-722-1213.
The funeral home will need the social security number. A certified death certificate takes awhile to receive.
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The funeral home did notify SS of my MILs death but when we called SS, they said they still needed an official copy of her death certificate. So we brought it in to the local SS office.
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I did not need a death certificate at all in 2017..I called Social Security and asked what I should do and he took my wife's SS number and in minutes said I was all set and asked for my checking account routing and account numbers  for the $250 death benefit and in a few days it was there...Simple, easy.

Grace + Peace,

Gog
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Hi Jefferson1. In my own case yes but I live in The South of Ireland, and I needed the original copy of my late Mothers Death Certificate as a photo copy would not be accepted. I guess some Countries may differ.
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