my husband has pancreatic cancer stage 3 he is on ss he is 64 and not a very high survivor rate i'm 62 with real bad arthritis and i clean for a living i would like to take my early ss not only to be able to spend more time with him but because my body hurts real bad no way of working at any thing els because i have a very bad hearing problem i had a doctor tell me that i was very close to being legally deaf my ? is if i take an early ss wen he passes will i be entitled to his witch would be more than mine thank you

Hi,

I'm sorry to hear about your and your husband's health problems.

It sounds like both you and your husband should look into filing for Social Security disability benefits (SSDI) if you haven't already done so. You would have to meet both the medical and non-medical requirements, though, so I can't tell you whether or not you would be eligible.

If you're not eligible for SSDI, you could file for reduced retirement benefits on your own record now, and still potentially receive your husband's higher benefit rate if he dies before you. You wouldn't receive both benefits, though, just the higher of the 2 rates, and your exact rate would depend on if and when your husband started receiving reduced retirement benefits and your age at the time you become entitled to widow's benefits. You may want to consider using the maximization software available on this website to explore your options and determine your best filing strategy.

Best, Jerry