I will be 66 in 14 months my wife of 20+ years died in 1991 can I collect her social security benefits and wait till I am 68 or 70 and collect mine and will it be a full check or part

Hi,

Assuming that your wife paid into Social Security long enough to be insured, and assuming that you're now unmarried, or you remarried after turning age 60, then yes it sounds like you should be eligible for widower's benefits. Depending on your current earnings, it may be best for you to either, a) file now for reduced widower's benefits, then switch to your own account at age 70, or b) file now for reduced benefits on your own account, then file for widower's benefits at age 66. If you are earning too much to be eligible for reduced benefits because of the Social Security earnings test, then you can still start drawing at age 66. And, if your widower's benefit is lower than your own benefit, you can take it first and then switch to your own account at age 70. At that point, your own benefit will have increased to it's highest possible rate.

You should probably check out your options as soon as possible. You might be leaving money on the table. You may wish to consider running the maximization software available on this website in order to sort out your best option.

Best, Jerry