Bbraggking
New Member
I do not know a whole lot about the rules of death benefits. My mother passed away when I was 12 years old and I am now 20. After she passed away I started receiving death benefits through Social Security after I was sent to my grandfathers house to live in Washington state from California. My younger brother and I were both receiving checks of roughly 600 dollars a piece for the death of my mother. My grandfather took us in for what I believe was a payday. We didn't see a dime of the money. He always said that it was to go to pay for our housing, food, clothes etc and that it was against the law for him to save any of the death benefits. I have read a lot of places that he was supposed to put the money in a trust fund until my younger brother and I turned 18 and then we would have it to pay for college, housing etc then. My grandfather has done my brother and I a lot of wrong since the whole thing. He purchased a new truck, a new harley. He recieves a pension from the military as well as social security disability so he is well off himself. I can only imagine what he was doing with an extra 1200 a month from our death benefits. What can I do about this? I feel like I was cheated out of almost 40 grand in death benefits that were supposed to go to help my brother and I later on in life.