Ask Larry

Am I Still Eligible For Survivor Benefits?

My wife passed away 2014 she was 74 was 54 I got remarried in 2020 .my question is am I still elagable for servivale benefits at 60 till I can draw my S.S.

Hi. I'm sorry for your loss.

You couldn't become entitled to survivor benefits on your deceased spouse's record if you're currently married AND if you remarried prior to the day before your 60th birthday (https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0300207003). But, if you remarried after reaching age 60 you could potentially claim widower benefits and delay claiming your own benefits until later.

If you were at least age 60 when you remarried, your best strategy for claiming benefits would likely be one of the following:
1) File for reduced widow's benefits at age 60 or as soon as your earnings will permit at least some benefits to be paid, then switch to your own record at age 70; or,
2) File for reduced retirement benefits on your own record at age 62 or as soon as your earnings will permit at least some benefits to be paid, then file for unreduced widow's benefits at full retirement age (FRA). However, if your deceased wife started drawing her Social Security benefits prior to FRA, then you'd want to file for widower benefits at some point prior to reaching your FRA.

Normally, you would want to start out drawing the lower benefit first and then switch to the higher benefit when it reaches it's highest potential rate. Our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) could help sort all of this out for you so that you can determine the best strategy for maximizing your benefits.

Best, Jerry

Posted: 
Mar 8 2021 - 6:57am
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