If my spouse starts taking the spousal benefit early, prior to her full retirement age of 66 and 10 months, then if I pass away and she converts to survivor benefit after her full retirement age, is her survivor benefit reduced from having taken the spousal benefit early? If my spouse starts taking the spousal benefit early, prior to her full retirement age of 66 and 10 months, then if I pass away and she converts to survivor benefit after her full retirement age, is her survivor benefit reduced from having taken the spousal benefit early?

Hi. No. Spousal benefit rates are calculated separately from survivor benefit rates. Any reduction for age applied to a person's spousal benefit rate does not carry over to their survivor rate. If a person is full retirement age (FRA) or older when they start drawing survivor benefits, their survivor rate isn't reduced for age even if they started drawing spousal benefits at a reduced rate. However, if a person starts drawing survivor benefits prior to their FRA, then their survivor rate is subject to a reduction for age based on their age at the time they start collecting survivor benefits.

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Best, Jerry