If I was married the first time for 15 years and first husband is still alive, married 2nd time for 37 years and husband passed away how does benefits to wife work

Hi. I'm sorry for your loss. I'm assuming from the length of your marriages that you've already reached full retirement age (FRA). If that's the case then it sounds like you could potentially qualify for either divorced spousal benefits on your first husband's account or widow's benefits from your second husband's account. Unreduced divorced spousal benefits are calculated based on 50% of the worker's primary insurance amount (PIA), whereas unreduced widow's benefits are based on 100% of the deceased worker's benefit rate. You can basically only collect one benefit at a time, though, so your best filing strategy depends on the comparative benefit rates of your two spouses and whether or not you are eligible for benefit based on your own work record.

There isn't enough information in your question for me to be able to give you any filing advice, so you may want to consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to fully analyze the options available to you in order to determine your best strategy for maximizing your benefits.

Best, Jerry