Answer: When the financial institution is notified of the death of a recipient, it must return all subsequent post-death benefit payments with a Return Reason Code R15 or R14. These codes notify the Federal agency of the recipient’s death. The financial institution may return any post-death benefits that have already posted by ACH without waiting for a Reclamation but are not required to do so. The institution may wait for the Reclamation Notice to return payments already posted after the death of the recipient but before notification of death was received. Procedures for handling Federal Government payments are found in “The Green Book” published by The Department of Treasury. The financial institution should have a copy on hand as a reference.
