Hello and thank you so much for your prior answer about retroactive benefits for children, and can I also now ask you for a clarification about month of entitlement. You said that children cannot get benefits before my husband's month of entitlement. I am confused about month of entitlement. I just tried to look up the definition and found a POMS post about month of entitlement and month of election, but still am not sure. My husband has already filed and has already started receiving benefits recently, so his decision has been made not to take the retroactive lump sum they offered. He was eligible for full retirement for some time before he filed though. Is month of entitlement when he COULD have gotten benefits or when he actually started receiving. In other words, if he did not choose to take the 6 month lump sum they offered retroactively, does that mean the children also cannot? Or that they could go back 6 months as long as he could have filed (but didn't). I'm sorry if I'm sounding dense here, I am confused because local office told me one thing and national information number something different, and I'm not clear on month of entitlement vs. month of election. Thank you for your help!

Hi,

In simplest terms, a person's month of entitlement is the effective month that they choose to start drawing benefits. For example: Bob turns age 67 and files for benefits in January 2018. He could choose to elect a month of entitlement as early as July 2017 and receive the appropriate back pay, but he chooses to start drawing benefits effective with January 2018. Therefore, Bob's month of entitlement in this case is January 2018, and no auxiliary benefits could be paid on his record for any months before that.

Best, Jerry