Has anyone had success in getting deceased father's or parents social security retirement benefits for their living parent? Even retroactive?

Thank you.

I don’t know how the teacher retirement factors in, but my 76 year old mother did this a year ago. She and dad were married 10 years, divorced since 1977. My dad passed away in January 2022. Mother and I had been estranged, but when she found out dad had died she filed for this. She got money dating back the months to when he passed plus his increased social security amount. As much as my dad would have hated that she’s benefited from his social security, it really has made my job in dealing with her easier since she’s not so broke.

If your mom is entitled to get some of your dad's SS, it will be reduced based on how much state pension she is getting. Could end up being very little or $0, depending on how much her state pension is and also his SS benefit. Since your dad died in 1994, I'm going to guess his SS benefit would not be high because his lifetime wages were lower since he did not have the benefit of living long enough have higher wages in his later life. It's worth a try, even if it's not much. She needs to bring her marriage certificate, and maybe husband's death certificate to be on the safe side. Since she's not in the SS system, she should also bring her own information, such as birth certificate and a photo id. I presume she has a SS card even though she is getting a state pension, so she should bring that too. Is she on Medicare?

Here's what it says about the government pension offset, quoting just a part from https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10007.pdf

A law that affects spouses and widows or widowers

If you receive a retirement or disability pension
from a federal, state, or local government
based on your own work for which you didn’t
pay Social Security taxes, we may reduce your
Social Security spouses or widows or widowers
benefits. This fact sheet provides answers to
questions you may have about the reduction.

How much will my Social Security benefits be reduced?

We’ll reduce your Social Security benefits by
two-thirds of your government pension. In other
words, if you get a monthly civil service pension
of $600, two-thirds of that, or $400, must be
deducted from your Social Security benefits. For
example, if you’re eligible for a $500 spouses,
widows, or widowers benefit from Social
Security, you’ll get $100 a month from Social
Security ($500 – $400 = $100). If two-thirds of
your government pension is more than your
Social Security benefit, your benefit could be
reduced to zero

I know some states do not allow teachers to get SS and pension. But your Dads SS is from his earnings. They are not her earnings. I would check it out, how could it hurt. My cousin taughtvin California his SS is reduced because he getsva teachers pension. In my State teachers get both.

I'm not sure she can collect both her pension and her husband's SS benefit. She would have had to be married to him for a minimum of 10 years. Your Mother probably needs to go to this meeting in person, unless she is cognitively incapacitated and you are her FPoA. She should bring her marriage license with and ID paperwork with her (like birth certificate). You may also want to ask about being a Representative Payee to help her manage her SS deposits and decisions.