Hi Larry, If my husband dies, do I receive his monthly benefits if they are higher than mine. Explain widow's benefits please.

Hi. The answer to your question if basically yes, assuming that you've already reached your full retirement age (FRA) at the time of your husband's death. It gets more complicated if your husband dies before you reach FRA, in which case your widow's rate may or may not be reduced for age depending on whether or not your husband started drawing his Social Security retirement benefits prior to FRA.

If your husband was at least FRA when he started drawing his benefits and if you claim widow's benefits prior to your FRA then your widow's rate would be reduced for age. However, if your husband started drawing his benefits early, then the maximum rate you could draw as a survivor would be the higher of a) your own benefit rate, b) your husband's benefit rate, or c) 82.5% 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).

Our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) is fully programmed to handle widow's benefit computations, so anyone who is under FRA and has the option of collecting either their own benefits or survivor benefits should strongly consider using our software to help them determine their best strategy for maximizing their benefits.

Best, Jerry