20 CFR § 404.301 - Introduction.

---
identifier: "/us/cfr/t20/s404.301"
source: "ecfr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "20 CFR § 404.301 - Introduction."
title_number: 20
title_name: "Employees' Benefits"
section_number: "404.301"
section_name: "Introduction."
chapter_name: "SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION"
part_number: "404"
part_name: "FEDERAL OLD-AGE, SURVIVORS AND DISABILITY INSURANCE (1950-  )"
positive_law: false
currency: "2026-04-05"
last_updated: "2026-04-05"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
cfr_part: "404"
---


# 404.301 Introduction.

This subpart sets out what requirements you must meet to qualify for social security benefits, how your benefit amounts are figured, when your right to benefits begins and ends, and how family relationships are determined. These benefits are provided by title II of the Social Security Act. They include—

(a) *For workers,* old-age and disability benefits and benefit protection during periods of disability;

(b) *For a worker's dependents,* benefits for a worker's wife, divorced wife, husband, divorced husband, and child; and

(c) *For a worker's survivors,* benefits for a worker's widow, widower, divorced wife, child, and parent, and a lump-sum death payment.

[44 FR 34481, June 15, 1979, as amended at 83 FR 21708, May 10, 2018]