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Am I Entitled To Widow's Benefits On My Former Husband's Record Even If I Remarried At Age 60?

My husband of 43 years passed away when I was 58 years old.I remarried when I was 60 years and 1 month old I started drawing at 62 but I don’t draw much am I entitled to my widows benefit ?my current husband dress a small disability check and we still make a small income.

Hi. Yes, at least potentially. Marriages that occur after a person reaches age 60 don't bar them from being able to collect survivor benefits on the account of a former deceased spouse.

However, since you're apparently already drawing benefits on your own account you could only qualify for additional survivor benefits if survivor rate is higher than your own benefit rate. If it is and if you haven't yet reached your full retirement age (FRA), then it may be more advantageous for you to wait until you reach FRA to apply for survivor benefits. That way your survivor rate wouldn't be reduced for age. But, if your former husband collected reduced Social Security retirement benefits prior to his death then your potential survivor benefit would reach it's maximum rate at some point before you reach FRA. And, in that case, you wouldn't want to wait beyond then to claim any survivor benefits for which you could qualify.

Our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) could help you determine the best time to apply for survivor benefits, but to get the best results you would need to find out from Social Security your former husband's unreduced benefit rate and whether or not he received any reduced Social Security retirement benefits.

Best, Jerry

Posted: 
May 10 2021 - 12:24pm
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