Are there social security benefits for the family of a 51 year old deceased person?

[aarondm2000]

What happens to the social security benefits of a younger deceased person?

[Bsch4477]

Payment of survivors benefits depends upon many factors and is not automatic so you should contact social security. 

[xmasbaby0]

If the deceased person has a spouse or children, they might be eligible for survivor benefits, but there are  ---as pointed out by Champ @Bsch4477 ---many variables involved.    You need to contact Social Security for information.

https://www.ssa.gov

[NCperson]

@aarondm2000 depends on the age of the family members...how old are they and is there a surviving spouse? 

are you really asking, if someone put all this money into the social security fund and died young, so they never collected, what happens to the money? it goes sloshing around into the fund for the benefit of everyone else.  Think about the person who lives into their 90s - so they collect a lot more than they ever paid in - that is where the money goes .

This is effectively an insurance fund - everyone pays in and some get back more than they paid in and some get less.