My wife passed away in 2012 can I receive a portion of her SS?

Hi. I'm sorry for your loss. You can potentially qualify for widower benefits as early as age 60, or age 50 if you're disabled. However, if you're already drawing your own benefits then you could only get additional benefits from your wife's account if your widower's benefit rate is higher than your own benefit rate (https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/handbook/handbook.04/handbook-0401.html). The surviving member of a couple can only be paid up to essentially the higher of their 2 benefit rates.

If you think that you may qualify for widower benefits and especially if you haven't already applied for your own benefits then you may want to strongly consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to fully analyze the options available to you in order to determine your best strategy for maximizing your benefits.

Best, Jerry