My ex-husband just died at 67 but neither of us had begun taking our social security yet - we were planning to wait until 70. I am in the age window where I can switch benefits, but mine are less than my ex's and will still be if I wait to collect on my record until I'm 70. So that's not an option. When I went into the SS office recently, I was told that his benefit amount is frozen as of his date of death so they advised me to take my ss retroactively for six months and begin collecting on his record immediately. They said a widow does not have the option to defer collecting on her ex until he would have turned 70 to maximize her income later on. Is this correct? It seems discriminatory.

Hi,

Yes, everything you've described as being told by Social Security sounds correct. Assuming that you've already reached full retirement age (FRA), your surviving divorced spousal benefit rate would not increase if you wait past the month of your ex-spouse's death to start drawing. Delayed retirement credits (DRC) can only be earned on a person's own Social Security retirement account, not on survivor or spousal benefits. However, you will get credit for any DRCs that your ex-spouse accrued up until the month of his death.

Therefore, if your own Social Security retirement benefit rate would be lower than your survivor rate even if you waited until age 70 to start drawing, you would almost certainly want to claim your own Social Security retirement benefits effective with the earliest possible month (including any retroactive benefits if you're over FRA) and then file for your survivor benefits effective with the later of a) the month of your ex's death or b) the month you reach full retirement age. However, you may want to confirm all of that using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase).

Best, Jerry