Social Security’s $255 Death Benefit Hasn’t Changed Since the 1950s. Here’s What Survivors Actually Need. (opens in new tab)

Picture a surviving spouse, days after burying her husband, sitting at the kitchen table with a stack of bills. The funeral invoice alone runs into five figures. Someone mentions Social Security pays a death benefit, and for a moment there is a flicker of relief. Then the number arrives: $255. That is the entire one-time ... Social Security’s $255 Death Benefit Hasn’t Changed Since the 1950s. Here’s What Survivors Actually Need.