My mother is disabled, and became disabled shortly after her husbands death. She just turned 60. Currently she is receiving SSI through disability. My understanding is that she can apply for the survivor benefit based on her husbands social security. My question is that does she get his full benefit because she is disabled? Her current benefit is around $870, but her husbands full benefit would only be around $1230. Thus, if she only got 70% of the survivor benefit, that would be lower than what she is receiving now, and I would not want her to lose money by applying for the survivor benefit.
Hi,
When you say that your mother is receiving SSI, I assume you mean Social Security disability (SSDI) benefits based on her earnings history and not Supplemental Security income, which is a needs based benefit.
It sounds like your mother probably should have been receiving disabled widow's benefits for some time now. Disabled widows can potentially be eligible for benefits as early as age 50, as opposed to age 60 for aged widows. And, if your mother is receiving SSDI, she should file for disabled widow's benefits as soon as possible. Disabled widow's benefits can potentially be paid for up to 12 months retroactively from their month of filing. And, if your mother was potentially eligible for disabled widow's benefits when she filed for SSDI, her SSDI application would likely be considered as an open application for disabled widow's benefits, permitting Social Security to pay her disabled widow's benefits retroactively to her SSDI entitlement date.
Like widow's benefits payable at age 60, disabled widow's benefits are reduced by 28.5%. But, if a person is receiving SSDI when they become entitled to higher widow's or disabled widow's benefits, this percentage reduction is only applied to the difference in the 2 unreduced rates. So, if your mother's unreduced widow's rate is $1230 and her full disability rate is $870, she could likely qualify for a disabled widow's benefit of about $257 (i.e. ($1230-$870) x .715). This would then be added to her SSDI benefit to give her combined benefit rate of around $1127. And the important kicker is that as long as your mother was getting SSDI when she becomes entitled to her widow's or disabled widow's benefits, and assuming that her husband didn't receive reduced retirement benefits prior to his death, the reduction would be removed when she reaches full retirement age (FRA) raising her combined rate up to her husband's full rate, or $1230 based on your figures.
By the way, based on feedback I've received from readers, many Social Security employees are apparently unaware of this latter rule regarding removal of the reduction at FRA. So, your mother may need to direct them to item C.3. in the following section of Social Security's operations manual (RS 00615.350): https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0300615350.
Best, Jerry
