My deceased husband was a Railroad Retired clerk (38 yrs) when he passed 6 years ago. I am 64 reviewing my Social Security benefits to estimate when I can retire. My question is: Will I receive RRB Spousal Retirement benefits as well as my Social Security?

Hi,

I'm sorry for your loss.

My expertise is limited to Social Security (SS) benefits, so I don't know what benefits you may qualify for from Railroad Retirement (RR). What I can tell you is that if you qualify for both Social Security benefits and RR benefits and you file for both benefits, your Tier 1 RR benefits will be offset dollar for dollar by the amount of your Social Security benefits. But, if you qualify for Tier 2 RR benefits, you could draw those benefits in full in addition to your Social Security benefits.

Assuming that you do qualify for RR survivor benefits, one possible filing strategy that you may want to at least consider would be to claim your RR benefits first while allowing your own Social Security retirement benefit rate to continue growing. Your Social Security retirement rate would continue to grow until you reach age 70 even if you're drawing RR benefits before then. Therefore, if your age 70 SS rate would be higher than your Tier 1 RR rate then the best way to maximize your total monthly benefit rate may be to claim RR benefits as soon as your Tier 2 benefits would not be reduced for age, then claim your SS benefits at age 70. As I said, though, I'm not an expert on RR benefits so you'll need to contact the Railroad Retirement Board to find out what your options are with regard to RR benefits.

Best, Jerry