Life happens, and when it comes to how those changes impact your finances, Social Security is reminding there are a number of changes that impact your earnings towards Social Security.

Jack Myers indicates that if you receive Social Security, you can help make sure they pay you the right benefit each month. You can do that by reporting relationship or other life changes that could affect your eligibility for retirement, survivors, or disability benefits. 

Among the types of relationship changes you need to report, Myers says those include a marriage or divorce, death of a spouse or former spouse, becoming a parent of a child, including adoption, of course, and marriage of a child who gets benefits on your record. 

Currently, there are 21 states where we can verify marriage certificates and don’t need to see yours. Myers notes nearby states such as Iowa, Missouri, Michigan, and Wisconsin are on that list, but Illinois is not yet. 

Other, more standard changes such as address, direct deposit, or phone number should be reported as well, but those types of things won’t affect your eligibility for benefits - they are more like “updates” and can be submitted via your mySocialSecurity account, over the telephone, or in office with an appointment. 

To report these changes, call Social Security at 1-800-772-1213 Monday-Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., call your local Social Security office, and you can find it at www.ssa.gov/locator, or fax, mail, or deliver your updates to your local office.