I read that in 1983 President Reagan changed the method of computing survivir benefits, but my mother, born in 1928 would be grandfathered. My late father received just over $400 and my mom gets about $700. She gets only $7 from my fathers account, so I do not think they grandfathered her. Everyone at SS doesn't know anything about what Reagan did. Am I correct that she is not getting her correct amount?

Hi. Just to clarify, Congress is the the only governmental body that can make changes to Social Security laws. Presidents can veto Social Security amendments that are passed by Congress, but U.S. presidents can't change Social Security regulations.

There were some significant Social Security amendments passed into law by Congress during the Reagan administration, but it's not clear from the information in your question whether or not those changes might have affected your mother's benefit amount. I would need to have full access to her Social Security records to give you a definite answer.

Basically, the surviving member of a couple can be paid no more than the higher of their 2 benefit rates. No one can be paid more than one type of Social Security benefit in full, and that's been true since Social Security was originated in 1935. None of the amendments passed during the Reagan administration changed that fact.

If your father's benefit rate was higher than your mother's benefit rate, then what she should likely be receiving is her own benefit rate plus a partial widow's rate equal to the difference between her rate and your father's rate. The sum of her 2 benefits would then add up to your father's higher rate.

The only Social Security amendment that I can think of that was passed during the Reagan administration and might affect your mother's widow's rate is the Government Pension Offset (GPO) provision (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10007.pdf). There was a grandfathering provision in that law which exempted widow's from offset if they were eligible for their government pension prior to December 1982. However, unless your mother is receiving a pension based on her work for a federal, state, county or local governmental agency in the U.S. where her earnings were exempt from Social Security taxes, then the GPO provision wouldn't have any effect on her benefit amount.

Best, Jerry