> As for the "quite a few stories" about the effects of falsely > reported deaths, I think you're likely dealing with an urban > legend. > It is fashionable to take pot shots at our government employees, > but ... > > "Richard A. Pence" <richardpence@pipeline.com> It seems that the urban legend has some basis in fact, according to testimony here! My in-laws had almost the opposite problem, SSA refused to accept that my mother-in-law's mother had, in fact, died. They continued, sporadically, to deposit money on her behalf to my mother-in-law's account up to two years later. As to taking *potshots* at the government because it is fashionable--I was born in DC, as was my father before me, my grandmother came there as an infant, and grandpa in his early teens. As a member of a family of generations of federal government employees, including a former IRS lawyer, holidays and family gatherings were full of the latest crazy antics stories of what foolishness had gone on in the bureaucratic halls. While some people may tell these stories because it is *fashionable*, quite often they are told because they are true. Maria Kelley <mariakjek@juno.com>