Is there any way that the reduced amount of what I receive from my husbands social security as his widow, ever be increased to 100 percent of what he was receiving when he died, at any time. I started receiving it at 60 and am now 71.. I worked for many many years myself.

Hi,

No, the only times that reduced widow's benefits are restored to the unreduced rate at full retirement age is when the widow was already receiving Social Security disability benefits (SSDI) at the time they started drawing the reduced widow's benefits. However, if your own retirement benefit rate would be higher than your reduced widow's rate you could potentially switch to the higher retirement benefit rate. Our maximization software could help you determine if that's possible in your case.

Best, Jerry