I have done some reading, and used online calculators.
(Writing for sister, working, divorced, recently widowed with disabled adult son (disabled long before age 22). Former spouse died in 2020. I know she MUST file for a restricted benefit.

The calculators advise to file for mother benefit, child benefit and survivor benefit now and her social security at 70. Then the calculators show zero for the mother benefit? There is also an earnings test and she will lose much of the survivor benefit (looks like 11,000 a year).

I have read: "It is important to note that any benefits withheld while you continue to work are not "lost". Once you reach NRA, your monthly benefit will be increased permanently to account for the months in which benefits were withheld".

I am not sure about that. It shows that the total benefit will be the same once she stops working in 2007 (so no earnings test) as when she files for her own retirement at age 70. It looks like there is a total family benefit and that is it. If that is so, then I am not sure how she gets back what was lost to the earnings test.

I think, think, that more money for her is more money and she won't get more if she delays survivor benefit so she should just file. The SSA phone help made her afraid to file citing the earnings test and that she would get less.

I will be getting your book from the library very soon but I do not know if it is possible to make this clear enough to have confidence in our decisions. So complicated!

Thank you for any help.

Hi. If your sister qualifies for child in care survivor benefits (i.e. mother's benefits), those benefits are not reduced for age. However, $1 of her 2021 benefits would be withheld for each $2 that she earns in excess of $18960 this year. The same principle would apply in following years, although the exempt amount of earnings goes up each year. When and if your sister should apply for survivor benefits depends on her benefit rate and the amount she expects to earn.

Any benefits that your sister loses due to the earnings test will not be made up in any way, assuming that your sister and her son are the only people eligible for benefits on the account of her ex-spouse. The quote you cited above suggesting otherwise only applies when the benefits withheld are Social Security retirement benefits payable on a person's own account. Mother's benefits lost to the earnings test won't cause your sister's own rate to be adjusted upward in the future.

It sounds like your sister should strongly consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to fully analyze the options available to her so that she can determine her best strategy for maximizing her benefits.

Best, Jerry