are you on SSDI? If yes, do whatever you want.

Save it, give it away, pay your debts, gamble, travel, bury it in the backyard, buy a HDTV and Blue Ray DVD player and a nice recliner and subscribe to Netflix, get your teeth fixed, get your roof fixed and a new furnace for your home. Whatever you want. It may be the last time in your life that you have a lump sum of money, so making good choices for your comfortable future may be in your best interest.

Are you on SSI? If yes, do whatever you want but keep receipts and don't give it away (like share the wealth with the adult children) unless you don't care if SSI penalizes you for a few or many months for giving away your money. Also, if you want to stay on SSI, don't buy a second house or a second car or any other countable resource that exceeds $2000. Also, the retroactive benefits are excluded from the $2000 resource limit for 9 months so you don't have to spend it all today.