Severance and unemployment, do they overlap? - any advice?

My employer is paying severance in instalments and I am not sure whether to file now. I do not usually post, so bear with me. I have a mortgage and need to plan. Did you file straight away?

Thanks for writing this out. I went through something close to it 11 months ago, and it settled down once I kept a simple log of every call and form.

Some states only count certain kinds of severance. A local workforce centre could tell me which.