I was receiving my own SSDI before my husband died in 2015; he was also receiving SSDI. Can I draw from his SSDI if his is larger than mine? I do receive widows benefits but its not a whole lot.

Hi,

I'm sorry for your loss.

No, if you're already receiving widow's benefits based on your husband's record you wouldn't be eligible for any other type of benefits from his account. If someone is already receiving disability benefits (SSDI) on their own record when they become eligible for widow's benefits, their widow's rate is calculated by subtracting their own SSDI benefit rate from their deceased spouse's primary insurance amount (PIA).

However, if the widow is not yet full retirement age (FRA) when they start drawing their widow's benefits then their survivor rate is reduced for age. The reduction for age is removed when the widow reaches FRA, though, but only in cases in which the widow was receiving SSDI at the time they started drawing widow's benefits. So, assuming that you haven't reached your FRA yet, your widow's rate will likely go up at least somewhat when you do reach FRA.

Best, Jerry