If the disability claim is still in the FO at the time of the claimant’s death:

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  Determine if someone eligible to receive the deceased’s potential underpayment is interested in continuing the application. See Claimant Dies Before Filing/Effectuation for instruction - GN 00204.005.

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  Manually clear the claim back to the FO provided that the death in the waiting period criteria is met and does not require a disability determination.

  NOTE: See MSOM MCS 020.004 Manual Clearance (MANC).

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  Consider abatement if the criteria in Abatements - GN 01010.475 is met.

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  Take and adjudicate the survivor claim, if appropriate.

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  For CEF cases add a special message to Electronic Disability Collect System (EDCS).

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  For paper claims, send the disability file along with the survivor claim to the Processing Center (PC).

If:

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  a medical determination is necessary on the disability claim, request a pre-adjudicative Earnings Computation (EC) record.

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  EC does not contain a record of earnings, request an Informational/ Certified Earnings Record System (ICERS).

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  the case is a CEF, fax the ICERS into the CEF.

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  the official Disability Insurance Benefits (DIB) folder is a paper MDF, place a copy in the survivor file and the disability file. Send the disability file to Disability Determination Services (DDS) for a decision; include a copy of the certified death certificate. Adjudicate the survivor claim and send to PC. Do not delay processing of the survivor claim while awaiting DDS determination. Any Retirement Insurance Benefits (RIB) claim filed concurrently with a disability claim should accompany the survivor claim to PC.

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  a survivor claim is not filed within 30 days after receipt of notice of death, send the DIB claim to PC after processing abatement, or preparing an underpayment award as appropriate. See Abatements - GN 01010.475 if abatement applies and Underpaid Person is Deceased - GN 02301.030 if underpayment applies.