Can a Child Get a Parent’s Social Security Benefits?

Yes. A child can get Social Security benefits on a parent’s record when that parent is retired, disabled, or has died after working long enough in Social Security-covered jobs. An eligible child can receive up to 50% of a living parent’s monthly benefit, or up to 75% of a deceased parent’s basic benefit amount.¹

Which Children Qualify

The parent has to be entitled to Social Security retirement or disability benefits, or have died with enough work credits.² The child then has to fit one of three categories:

Unmarried and under 18.
Age 18 or 19 and a full-time student in an elementary or secondary school (grade 12 or below). Payments continue until graduation or two months after the 19th birthday, whichever comes first.³
Age 18 or older with a disability that began before age 22. The SSA calls this a Disabled Adult Child (DAC) benefit, and it can continue for life as long as the disability meets the adult standard.⁴

Biological children, adopted children, and stepchildren all qualify. A dependent grandchild or step-grandchild can qualify in some circumstances.²

The child generally must be unmarried. There’s a narrow exception for a disabled adult child aged 18 or older, who won’t lose benefits by marrying someone who also receives certain Social Security benefits, such as disability benefits or a disability-based child’s benefit.⁵

How Much the Child Gets

If the parent is alive and drawing retirement or disability benefits, the child can receive up to half of the parent’s full benefit amount. If the parent has died, the child can receive up to three-quarters of the deceased parent’s basic benefit.¹

The Family Maximum

There’s a ceiling on the total that everyone in a family can draw from a single parent’s earnings record. This family maximum generally falls between roughly 150% and 180% of the parent’s full benefit.⁶

When a spouse’s and children’s benefits together would push past the cap, each of those payments is reduced proportionally until the total fits. The parent’s own benefit is not cut. Benefits paid to a divorced spouse do not count against the family maximum.⁶

The $255 Lump-Sum Death Payment

When a parent dies, a one-time $255 payment may also be available. A surviving spouse has first claim. If there is no eligible spouse, a child who meets the same age and status rules that apply to monthly survivors benefits can receive it. The application has to be filed within two years of the parent’s death.⁷

How to Apply

Child benefit claims can’t be finished online the way retirement claims can. You apply by phone or in person at a local Social Security office.⁸ Call 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778), Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., to set an appointment.

Don’t wait. Payments generally run from the date of the application, so a delay is money lost.⁸

Have these ready for the appointment:⁹

The child’s birth certificate or other proof of birth or adoption.
Social Security numbers for the child and the parent.
Proof of the parent’s death, such as a death certificate, for survivors claims.
School enrollment information for a student aged 18 or 19.
Medical records for a disabled adult child claim. The SSA will ask you to complete an Adult Disability Report (Form SSA-3368) and a medical records release.
Bank account details for direct deposit.

Who Actually Receives the Money

The SSA does not send a child’s payments to the child. It sends them to a representative payee, usually a parent or legal guardian, who manages the money for the child.¹⁰

The payee is legally required to use the benefits for the child. Food and shelter come first, then medical and dental costs not covered by insurance, then personal needs like clothing. Anything left over must be saved, ideally in an interest-bearing bank account or U.S. Savings Bonds titled in the child’s name with the payee listed as financial agent. The payee cannot commingle the child’s funds with their own.¹⁰

Most payees file an annual accounting report (Form SSA-623 or similar). A natural or adoptive parent, or a legal guardian, who lives in the same household as the child is exempt from that annual filing.¹¹ Misuse of a child’s benefits can bring repayment demands and criminal penalties.¹⁰

When Benefits End

For most children, payments stop at 18. They keep going only if the child is a full-time student in an elementary or secondary school through the cutoff described above, or has a qualifying disability that began before age 22.² Marriage also ends the benefit, with the narrow disabled-adult-child exception noted earlier.⁵

A child whose benefits ended can sometimes be re-entitled by filing a new application. Someone whose payments stopped at 18 could requalify by re-enrolling in a qualifying school before 19, or by later showing a disability with an onset date before 22. One trap: if the child married at any point after benefits last ended, re-entitlement on that same parent’s record is blocked, even if the marriage ended in divorce.¹²

Taxes and the Child’s Own Earnings

A child’s Social Security benefits are taxable income to the child, not to the parent, even though the check is issued in the parent’s name as payee. Add half of the child’s Social Security to the child’s other income. If the total is under $25,000, the benefits are not taxed. Between $25,000 and $34,000, up to 50% of the benefit can be taxed; above $34,000, up to 85%.¹³ Most children have little other income, so most owe nothing.

A working child can also run into the Social Security earnings test. In 2026, a beneficiary under full retirement age can earn up to $24,480 before any reduction; above that, the SSA withholds $1 in benefits for every $2 earned over the limit.¹⁴ Only the child’s own earned income triggers the reduction. A parent’s earnings do not reduce the child’s benefit, and investment or other unearned income doesn’t count against the test.

1
Social Security Administration. Code of Federal Regulations 404.353 – Child’s Benefit Amounts
2
Social Security Administration. Benefits for Children 2025
3
Social Security Administration. Who Can Get Family Benefits
4
Social Security Administration. Disability Benefits – How Does Someone Become Eligible
5
Social Security Administration. Code of Federal Regulations 404.352 – When Does My Entitlement to Child’s Benefits Begin and End
6
Social Security Administration. Is There a Limit to the Amount of Monthly Benefits My Family Can Get on My Record
7
Social Security Administration. Lump-Sum Death Payment
8
Social Security Administration. Other Ways To Apply For Benefits
9
Social Security Administration. Form SSA-4 – Information You Need To Apply for Child’s Benefits
10
Social Security Administration. A Guide for Representative Payees
11
Social Security Administration. Code of Federal Regulations 404.2065 – How Does Your Representative Payee Account for the Use of Benefits
12
Social Security Administration (SSA) – Program Operations Manual System (POMS). Requirements for Re-entitlement to Child’s Benefits
13
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 915 – Social Security and Equivalent Railroad Retirement Benefits
14
Social Security Administration. Exempt Amounts Under the Earnings Test