SSS death benefit: what the family receives and how to claim

When an SSS member or pensioner dies, SSS pays the family either a monthly pension or a lump sum. If the member paid at least 36 monthly contributions before the semester of death, the spouse and dependent children receive a monthly pension, with the PHP 1,000 benefit allowance on top. With fewer contributions, they receive a lump sum (RA 11199 Sec. 13). The funeral benefit is a separate claim.

Who the beneficiaries are

SSS pays in this order (RA 11199 Secs. 8(e) and 8(k); SSS death benefit page):

1. Primary beneficiaries. The dependent spouse, until he or she remarries, and the dependent children: legitimate, legitimated, legally adopted and illegitimate children who are unmarried, not gainfully employed and under 21, or over 21 if disabled since childhood and unable to support themselves. The 2026 Citizen’s Charter adds that the spouse must not have “re-married, cohabited or entered in a ‘live-in’ relationship”.
2. Secondary beneficiaries, if there are no primary ones: the dependent parents who received regular support from the member.
3. A person the member named in SSS records, if there are no parents.
4. The legal heirs, under the law of succession, if no one was named.

Where there are both legitimate and illegitimate children, illegitimate children get half the share of the others; if there are no legitimate children, they get the full share (Sec. 8(k)). More on the term is in the glossary entry for beneficiary.

Monthly pension or lump sum

Monthly pension. If the member paid at least 36 monthly contributions before the semester of death, the primary beneficiaries get a monthly pension. It uses the same formula as the retirement pension, explained in the SSS pension guide, with a minimum of PHP 1,000 under 10 credited years, PHP 1,200 with 10 and PHP 2,400 with 20 (SSS death benefit page). They also receive:

• the PHP 1,000 benefit allowance each month
• a 13th month pension every December, equal to the monthly pension plus the PHP 1,000 (implementing rules, Rule 22 Sec. 4)
• a dependants’ pension for each dependent child, up to five starting with the youngest: 10% of the monthly pension or PHP 250, whichever is higher (RA 11199 Sec. 12-A)

Lump sum. RA 11199 Sec. 13 sets it:

• Primary beneficiaries, fewer than 36 contributions: the monthly pension times the number of contributions paid, or 12 times the monthly pension, whichever is higher.
• Secondary beneficiaries, at least 36 contributions: 36 times the monthly pension.
• Secondary beneficiaries, fewer than 36 contributions: the same higher-of rule as for primary beneficiaries.

If a retirement pensioner dies, the primary beneficiaries as of the date of retirement take over the pension. If there are none and the pensioner dies within five years of the pension starting, the secondary beneficiaries get a lump sum for the rest of those five years, without the dependants’ pension (RA 11199 Sec. 12-B(d)).

Increases for survivor pensions

Survivor (death) pensions go up 5% a year in 2025, 2026 and 2027, on the pension plus the PHP 1,000, for pensioners on the rolls by each cut-off. The 2026 increase applied from 1 June 2026 for survivor pensioners as of 31 May 2026, and from 1 September 2026 for those whose pension started from 1 June to 31 August 2026. Dependants’ pensions are adjusted too (SSS Circular 2026-002). Dates are on the SSS pension increase page.

How to claim

Online. A surviving spouse who has an SS number and a My.SSS account files online, under SSS Circular 2022-009. You need a UMID card enrolled as an ATM card or an approved disbursement account first. In My.SSS, choose SS Death, check the estimated amount SSS shows, upload the documents and certify the claim. SSS emails you when it is submitted (2026 Citizen’s Charter).

At a branch or SSS foreign office. Claims go in person when, among other cases, the claimant is under guardianship, a social security agreement with another country applies, or there is no registered death certificate (Circular 2022-009). The 2026 Citizen’s Charter also lists “has no dependent child/children” as a condition for filing online.

Documents (SSS death benefit page):

• the Death Claim Application
• the claimant’s photo and signature card, if they have no UMID card
• the member’s death certificate, registered with the local civil registrar or issued by the PSA, unless a funeral claim has already been settled
• the UMID ATM card or disbursement account details
• the marriage certificate and children’s birth certificates, if they are not in the member’s SSS records or the details differ
• for dependent parents, an affidavit of dependency; for named beneficiaries or heirs, a joint affidavit, and for heirs, the birth certificates of at least two heirs

If the member died abroad, SSS accepts the death certificate from the host country’s records office, or a Report of Death from the Philippine Embassy or Consulate. Documents in another language need an English translation. Authentication is not needed if an SSS foreign representative receives and signs them, and photocopies are accepted there. A letter of authority or special power of attorney signed abroad must be dated within one year.

Processing. The 2026 Citizen’s Charter gives 20 working days. SSS takes any unpaid short-term loans of the member out of the benefit in full.

The funeral benefit, a cash grant to whoever paid for the funeral, is filed separately: see the SSS funeral benefit.

Back to the SSS guide for OFWs.