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Will I Lose My Survivor Benefits If I Remarry?

I'm am currently recieving SSDI under my deceased husbands benefits. Approximately 2 years know. My husband Jim passed 4 years ago. question is: If I were to remarry would I lose my survivor's benefits? I've "heard" I have to be widowed a certain amount of years before I could remarry or I would lose them. TY Kathy

Hi Kathy. First off to clarify, Social Security disability (SSDI) benefits are only paid based on a disabled worker's own Social Security history. If you're receiving disability benefits based on your deceased husband's work history you must be collecting disabled widow's benefits (DWB), or a combination of SSDI and DWB benefits.

In any case, whether or not you're collecting SSDI or DWB benefits, getting remarried would not cause your benefits to stop. Remarriages never affect benefits payable based on a person's own work history, and remarriages do not adversely affect DWB benefits as long as the widow is already drawing DWB benefits at the time that the remarriage occurs (https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/handbook/handbook.04/handbook-0409.html).

Best, Jerry

Posted: 
Jul 23 2021 - 10:09am
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