Husband was collecting early SS payouts due to parental eligibility. Those children have aged out of the program.
Husband died when I was 62 and he was 82. Notified SS of death and was informed that that I was eligible for 100% of husband benefits and the agent had me sign up. The payouts did not match my husband's. I called and questioned the payouts. I was informed once again I was eligible for 100% of his benefits. The math did not add up to me and I went to SS office to be told that I waited too long to stop the payouts and basically, I am stuck being underpaid. I am now 68 years old and just learned of your services. Do I have any recourse?

Hi. If your husband started collecting Social Security retirement benefits prior to his full retirement age (FRA), then the most that you could be paid as a widow is the higher of a) his reduced benefit rate, or b) 82.5% of his primary insurance amount (PIA). A person's PIA is equal to their Social Security retirement benefit rate if they start drawing their benefits at full retirement age (FRA).

In other words, if your husband started drawing Social Security retirement benefits prior to his FRA then you would never have been eligible for 100% of his full unreduced benefit rate even if you had waited until your FRA to claim widow's benefits. In fact, since you were already age 62 when your husband died, it's possible that you were already eligible for your highest possible widow's rate, which may have been 100% of your husband's reduced benefit rate. That would explain what you were told by the Social Security representative. Therefore, filing for widow's benefits when you did may well have been your best option.

I would need to know your husband's exact age when he started drawing his benefits and your exact age when you started drawing your widow's benefits to know whether or not you had any alternative options at that time, but at this point there's likely nothing you can do to change things.

Best, Jerry