Larry/Jerry -

I’m writing for a friend with a question about retroactive Social Security payments.

Her husband was born in 1935 and passed away in December 2016; he started his Retirement Benefits at age 63. My friend was born in August 1953; she was and is still working. After her husband passed away, she talked to the Social Security office and they suggested she wait until her FRA to collect Survivor’s Benefits. When she went to apply for Survivor’s Benefits in July 2018 (a month before her FRA) the Social Security office told her could have applied “the year of turning 66”. They did pay her for the month of July but no retroactive payments for earlier months.

As I understand it, she could have received her maximum Survivor’s Benefits before 66 because of the RIB-LIM limits. I’m not sure at what age that would have occurred. Perhaps the initial advice to wait was based on the fact that she was still working.

From checking your book and internet searching, I see that in some situations, one can receive up to 6 months of retroactive payments. Or is it too late to request such payments?

If such payments are possible, how should she go about applying for them?

thank you, Jeff

P.S. I’d like to suggest that you add a search capability to the “Ask Larry” page. I used Google to search just your website but was only partly successful.

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for your suggestion. I'll pass it along to our website administrator.

Regarding your question, it certainly sounds like your friend could have claimed widow's benefits up to 6 months retroactively from the month of her application. As long as going back 6 months from the month of her application would not have reduced your friend's monthly benefit rate, and it sounds as though it wouldn't have done so given your description, then Social Security's retroactivity rules would allow her to claim up to 6 months of retroactive benefit entitlement.

However, whether or not your friend could actually have been paid any benefits for the retroactive period would depend on her earnings. Since she applied for benefits prior to her full retirement age (FRA), Social Security's earnings test would apply when determining how much, if any, benefits that she could have been paid.

As far as applying for any possible back pay at this point, your friend would need to request a reopening of her claim for the purpose of establishing an earlier month of entitlement. She could do that by using a form SSA-795 (https://www.ssa.gov/forms/ssa-795.pdf) and submitting it to her nearest Social Security office. As part of her request for reopening, I would suggest citing section GN 00204.030.D.1 of of Social Security's operations manual (https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0200204030).

Best, Jerry