I will claim my own SS Benefits at age 62. If my husband dies before I am FRA, how much time do I have to file for survivor benefits? Do I have to do it right away, or can I wait until I am FRA? What if there are several years in between my husband's death and my FRA?

Hi. If you're drawing your own Social Security retirement or disability benefits and if your spouse dies before you reach your full retirement age (FRA), then yes you would have the option of waiting until your FRA to claim unreduced survivor benefits.

However, if your spouse starts drawing reduced retirement benefits prior to his FRA then your maximum survivor benefit rate would be limited to the higher of a) 82.5% of your spouse's primary insurance amount (PIA) or b) his reduced benefit rate. And, in that event it would almost certainly be more advantageous for you to claim survivor benefits at some point before you reach your FRA. Our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) is fully programmed to handle those types of calculations to help people determine their best filing strategy for maximizing benefits.

Best, Jerry