I was a young widow (44) with young children (10 and 7) whose father died at a young age (46). In your book and articles you've described claiming widow's benefits first and waiting to take your retirement benefits allowing them to grow until they maximize at age 70. It can also be done the other way around. The widow can take her own retirement Insurance benefits (RIB) first and then at Full Retirement Age (FRA is 66 for me) switch to her widow's benefits. Social Security has told me that if I take my own retirement benefit at age 62 the age related reduction caused by taking it early will carry over when I claim my widow's benefit at FRA. I will, in effect, not get the total widow's benefit at my late husband's Primary Insurance Amount level.

For example: If my own Retirement Insurance Benefit on my own work record at my FRA age 66 would be $800 then at age 62 it would only be $600. I can go ahead and claim it at age 62 and I will get $600 for 48 months till I switch to widow's benefits at age 66. If then my widow Primary Insurance Amount at FRA is $2000 and I wait and claim it at age 66 I will not be receiving $2000. I will get $2000 minus $800 even though I was in reality only getting $600 a month for those 48 months. They add on the excess of the widow's benefit amount to my retirement benefit amount as if it were at 100%. In effect I will get $200 less every month from age 66 till I die. Is this true? The Social Security Claims Rep could not give me documentation to show this. I have researched it and believe she was trying to tell me that it would put me into Dual Entitlement situation. Is that right?
Does it work the other way around too? If a widow were to claim survivors benefits at age 60 and wait till age 70 to claim her own retirement benefits (allowing them to accrue maximum value) is the total amount she receives at age 70 going to be less than it would be if she had never claimed survivors benefits?
Those 4 years to 10 years of payments might make up for it but I just want to know the rules.

Hi,

If the Social Security representative told you that you can't get your full widow's rate if you file for reduced retirement benefits first, then they were wrong.

Using your example above if such a person waited until full retirement age (FRA) to claim widow's benefits, her combined benefit rate would be $2000 regardless of if or when she started drawing reduced retirement benefits. Her widow's rate would be calculated by subtracting her own benefit rate, not her PIA, from her deceased husband's PIA. Thus, in your example, if she starts drawing reduced retirement benefits at age 62 at a rate of $600 and then files for widow's benefits at FRA she would get an additional $1400 for a total rate of $2000.

The same principle holds true in reverse, except that a person who first receives widow's benefits and later files for higher retirement benefits isn't dually entitled. In that event their widow's benefits would terminate when they start drawing the higher retirement benefits, but any reduction applied to the widow's rate would not carry over to the retirement rate. This is because a person's own retirement benefits are always the primary benefit in the event that they are entitled to benefits on more than one record.

You might want to use the maximization software available on this website in order to be sure that you choose the optimal filing strategy.

Best, Jerry