Got severance, how does it affect benefits? after 10 years as a paralegal

My employer is paying severance in instalments and I am not sure whether to file now. I would rather hear the honest version than the polite one. I also wonder about the job-search requirement. Did you file straight away?

Thanks for writing this out. I went through something close to it 5 months ago, and it settled down once I kept a simple log of every call and form.