State Unemployment Benefits in North Carolina

Reporting a death

A claimant's death is reported, and the payable amount confirmed, by calling the DES UI Support Center.¹

DES directs help with an unemployment claim to its UI Support Center by phone; its central office in Raleigh is a secure facility.¹

Benefits at and after the death

Interpretation No. 131 in the DES Interpretations Manual states that on death, title to the claimant's personal property passes to the executor or administrator, and the next of kin have no right to it until the estate is administered.²

Interpretation No. 131 states that where no executor or administrator qualifies, DES may withhold the accrued benefits until one is appointed.²

DES states that its interpretations are not binding on the public.³

Who may claim a final payment

Under Interpretation No. 131, where no personal representative has qualified, benefits accrued before death may be paid to the Clerk of Superior Court of the county where the claimant lived, under the pay-to-the-clerk statute.²

Above the pay-to-the-clerk ceiling, Interpretation No. 131 states that DES must pay the accrued amount to an executor or administrator.²

N.C.G.S. 28A-25-6 caps payments to the clerk at $5,000; Interpretation No. 131 cites the superseded G.S. 28-68 and its $500 limit.⁴

Overpayments

N.C.G.S. 96-18(g)(2) makes a person paid benefits they were not entitled to liable to repay the Division.⁵

Where the claimant died after the payment was made, N.C.G.S. 96-18(g)(3)f lets the Division decline to collect the overpayment and remove the debt from its records.⁵

Governing law: N.C.G.S. Chapter 96 (Employment Security); N.C.G.S. 28A-25-6 (payment to clerk of money owed decedent)

Clerk of Superior Court

Qualifies an executor or administrator, and may receive small accrued payments in the county where the claimant lived^{2, 4}

• A claim form for survivors
• The file for the check reissue request

1. 1.Contact Us (NC Division of Employment Security)
2. 2.Interpretation No. 131, Executors and administrators; Escheats; Disposition of unemployment compensation benefits where no administrator has qualified
3. 3.Interpretations Manual (NC Division of Employment Security)
4. 4.N.C.G.S. Chapter 28A, Article 25
5. 5.N.C.G.S. 96-18
6. 6.Request Reissue of Check - Claimant Deceased (English)