I have been a widow since 1987, I have never remarried. I will be 62 in June 2018. I would like to know if I can take my deceased spouses SSI when I turn 66 1/2 and delay / suspend my SSI until ag e 70. Thank you, Sandra

Hi Sandra,

Yes, you could potentially file for reduced widow's benefits even sooner than age 62 and then switch to your own record at age 70. Before doing so, however, you should strongly consider using our maximization software to determine your best filing strategy.

Your best strategy would almost certainly be one of the following:
1) File for reduced widow's benefits now or as soon as your earnings will permit benefits to be paid, then switch to your own record at age 70; or,
2) File for reduced retirement benefits on your own record at age 62 or as soon as your earnings will permit benefits to be paid, then file for unreduced widow's benefits at your full retirement age.

Our software can help you determine which of the above strategies is best in your case as well as the exact months in which to file for each type of benefit. By the way, if you start out receiving widow's benefits first you would not want to file for and suspend your own benefits at full retirement age since that would cause your widow's benefits to also be suspended (https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/suspendfaq.html). Instead, you would simply want to delay filing on your own record likely until age 70, although you would be free to switch to your own record sooner if you wanted to do so.

Best, Jerry