I started taking my surviving spouse benefits at age 60 was only working part time. I have a job now making over the allotted amount but SS kept sending checks, so now I apparently owe SS 7,000. If I go back to part time to make under the 19,000 cap, will my survivor benefits continue or do I have pay this overpayment back first? And how long will it take for SS to start payments back.

Hi. Assuming that you'll be under your full retirement age (FRA) throughout 2023, as long as you earn less than $21,240 this year then you'll be due all of your benefits for the year. However, that won't repay your overpayment from a prior year(s).

Social Security will propose withholding your full benefit payment for as long as it takes to recover your overpayment, so the length of time that they'd need to suspend your payments depends on your monthly benefit rate. Once the overpayment is recovered, they'll resume your payments. If you prefer, you could ask Social Security to only withhold a portion of your monthly benefit payment each month to apply to your overpayment, but then it will take longer to recover the overpayment.

Best, Jerry