Child’s benefits include benefits for minor children, students, and disabled adult children.

To be entitled to child's benefits,

1. a. 

   a proper applicant for the child must file an application. For information on who is a proper applicant for a child, see GN 00204.003B.2 and RS 00203.065B;

   In addition, the child must be:

2. b. 

   the child of a number holder (NH) entitled to Retirement Insurance Benefits (RIB) or Disability Insurance Benefits (DIB), or a NH who died fully or currently insured. For information on determining who is a child of the NH, see GN 00306.000;

3. c. 

   dependent upon that NH, see GN 00306.002C and GN 00306.007 through GN 00306.009;

4. d. 

   unmarried, including never married and unmarried as defined in RS 00203.020; and

5. e. 

   under age 18, or if age 18 or over, be:

   • •

     under a disability that began before age 22, or

   • •

     a full-time elementary or secondary school student under age 19. For more information on student benefits, see RS 00205.000.

NOTE: Under certain circumstances, we may deem a student not to have attained age 19. For more information, see RS 00205.001A.

IMPORTANT: For requirements for re-entitlement to child’s benefits, see RS 00203.015.

If a child does not meet the requirements outlined in RS 00203.001A at the time they apply for child’s benefits, we may be able to find the applicant entitled to child’s benefits by:

• •

  establishing entitlement for months in a retroactive period during which the child met all requirements in RS 00203.001A; and

• •

  terminating the child’s entitlement with the month before the month in which any of the terminating events in RS 00203.035 occurred.

For example, a child who is married at the time they file their application for benefits, may be entitled to benefits for months prior to the month of their marriage. If benefits are payable for a retroactive period, the marriage is a terminating event.

IMPORTANT: Consider protective filing (see GN 00204.010) and retroactivity for Title II benefits (see GN 00204.030) when determining a child’s eligibility for a retroactive period.

For policy on the first month of entitlement to child’s benefits, see RS 00203.005 for death cases and RS 00203.010 for life cases.