How to Maximize Your Social Security Benefits As a Widow(er)
Many individuals experience the painful and gut-wrenching loss of a spouse or ex-spouse. If this has happened to you, I want to first tell you that you’re in my thoughts and prayers. I know firsthand the experience of grieving a loved one, and I would never wish that upon anyone.
You might take a modicum of comfort in knowing that, at the very least, your loss may not seriously impact your financial situation. Your financial situation may in fact benefit from you being able to access Social Security Survivor Benefits.
What are Survivor Benefits? A Survivor Benefit is a portion of your deceased spouse or ex-spouse’s Social Security Benefit. The amount of your Survivor Benefit depends on a number of factors: when you begin claiming Survivor Benefits, when your spouse began claiming benefits, the amount of your spouse’s benefit, whether you have children, and whether you’re disabled.
Who qualifies for a Survivor Benefit? An aged or disabled widow can qualify for Survivor Benefits if they were married to their spouse for 10 or more years. Additionally, an aged widow must be unmarried until after the age of 60, and a disabled widow must remain unmarried until after the age of 50 or after the onset of the disability. A widow caring for a disabled child or a child under the age of 16 has no length-of-marriage requirements to claim Survivor Benefits, but they must be unmarried.
How much is my Survivor Benefit? As I said, this depends on a number of factors. Let’s start with when your deceased spouse or ex-spouse claimed their Social Security benefits. If the deceased claimed their Social security benefit before their Full Retirement Age (FRA), the below graph will determine your maximum Survivor Benefit.
If the deceased claimed their benefit at or after FRA, you may be entitled to 100% of the deceased’s benefits. This includes any additional amount the deceased received for delaying to claim their benefit. If the deceased never claimed Social Security and passed away before their FRA, your Survivor Benefit would be the deceased’s benefit at FRA. If the deceased never claimed Social Security and passed away after their FRA, your Survivor Benefit would be the deceased’s benefit at FRA plus any credits they would have received by delaying to claim their benefit.
Your Survivor Benefit also depends on when you claim your Survivor Benefit. If you claim your Survivor Benefit at age 60, you’re entitled to 71.5% of your maximum Survivor Benefit. This percentage gradually increases until you’re entitled to 100% of your maximum Survivor Benefit at your FRA.
If you care for a disabled child or a child under the age of 16, you can claim 75% of your Survivor Benefit. Disabled widows can claim 71.5% of their Survivor Benefit between the ages of 50-59.
How can you maximize your Social Security Benefits? Widows can use a switch-up strategy in order to maximize their Social Security benefits. One strategy involves taking your reduced Survivor Benefit at age 60. At age 62 or older, you can switch to your Personal Benefit. Doing so may allow you to delay taking your Personal Benefit, thus increasing your Personal Benefit. Alternatively, you could begin taking your reduced Personal Benefit at age 62 then switch to your full Survivor Benefit at FRA.
There are a number of factors that may impact your Social Security benefits, and in order to best plan for your individual situation, please reach out to ELM3.
