I am a widow. My husband birthdate is 8/3/55 and he passed away on 9/13/18. I will be 60 in December (2020). I am planning to retire at my full retirement age of 67. I understand I can draw my husbanded retirement at that time instead of mine. He made more than me over the years. Will I be able to draw the amount that he would have been FRA or be able to draw what he would have drawn at the age of 70. (he would have been 70 when I get to FRA).
Thanks in advance.
Hi,
I'm sorry for your loss.
Assuming that your husband didn't collect Social Security retirement benefits prior to his death, if you file for widow's benefits at full retirement age (FRA) or later your widow's rate would be equal to 100% of your husband's 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). Since your husband died before reaching his FRA, your widow's rate could never be higher than his PIA even if you waited past FRA to start drawing widow's benefits.
If you start drawing reduced widow's benefits at age 60, your widow's rate would be equal to 71.5% of your husband's PIA. Furthermore, if you file for benefits prior to FRA they could be subject to full or partial withholding if you continue working and if you earn too much (https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/whileworking.html).
It sounds like your best strategy for claiming benefits is likely one of the following:
1) File for reduced widow's benefits at age 60 or as soon as your earnings will permit at least some 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 at least some benefits to be paid, then file for unreduced widow's benefits at full retirement age (FRA).
Normally, you would want to start out drawing the lower benefit first and then switch to the higher benefit when it reaches it's highest potential rate. Our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) could help sort all of this out for you so that you can determine the best strategy for maximizing your benefits.
Best, Jerry
