This podcast focuses on maximizing benefits for married couples, survivor benefits and understanding the “widow limit”.
This recording presents the viewpoints of the AMAC Foundation’s Social Security Advisory Staff, trained and accredited under the National Social Security Advisors program of the National Social Security Association, LLC (NSSA). NSSA and the AMAC Foundation are not affiliated with or endorsed by the United States Government, the Social Security Administration, or any other state government. To request additional information, contact our Advisory Staff at 888-750-2622, or email us at [email protected].
1) I am 64 yr old widow, can I file on my own SS benefits and then switch to my survivor benefit at my husband’s retirement age. His full retirement age would be 66.2 mine will be 66.6 so will I be able to switch at 66.2 or do I have to wait till I am 66.6.
2) What is the Widow’s Limit.
Rosemary,
Yes, you can claim your own SS retirement benefit first and allow your survivor benefit from your deceased husband grow to maximum. You do not need to wait until your deceased husband’s full retirement age (FRA) to claim his full benefit, but you do need to wait until your own “widow’s FRA” to get 100% of the benefit your husband was receiving when he died. If you were 64 in 2021, your “widow’s FRA” is 66 years and 2 months old (a widow’s FRA can be less than your normal FRA), and that is the point you would get 100% of your late husband’s SS benefit. If you claim your survivor benefit at any time before your “widow’s FRA” it will be less than 100% of your husband’s benefit when he died.
The so-called “widow’s limit” refers to a situation where your late husband may have claimed his benefits early, thus having a reduced benefit amount for claiming before his FRA. The “widow’s limit” sets a minimum survivor benefit for you by stipulating that your survivor benefit, if taken at your FRA, can be no less than 82.5% of the benefit your husband was entitled to at his full retirement age, even though he actually claimed earlier.
Rosemary, I hope this answers your questions, but please don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected] if you have any further questions.
Russell Gloor
National Social Security Advisor
The AMAC Foundation
Hello, My mother, age 86, started receiving death benefts from her husband in March 2020. He passed in 1979. The SSA told her she needed to provide proof of marriage or they would discontinue the benefit. She lost all of her papers in Hurricane Sandy and cannot prove her marriage. SSA has now stated she was overpaid and they will recover $265,000!!?? Is there any resource that can help us understand this? Thank you
Steven,
Did your mother remarry before she was 60 years old, and remain married? If so, she isn’t entitled to a survivor benefit from her previous husband if she was still married when she applied for her survivor benefit in 2020.
If she didn’t remarry, your mother must prove her marriage to her husband lasted for at least 9 months to avoid the need to repay those survivor benefits. Even though her papers were destroyed, she should be able to get another copy of her marriage certificate by contacting the Department of Health in the State she was married in. For example, if your mother was married in NJ, she should use this website to order a copy of her marriage certificate: https://www.nj.gov/health/vital/order-vital/non-genealogical-records/. All states provide a similar service to obtain copies of legal documents, so if your mother was married in another state, simply search for the Dept. of Health for that state and locate the “Vital Records” section to obtain a copy.
Again if your mother didn’t remarry before she was 60, she should file form SSA-561 – Request for Reconsideration to establish that she does not agree she was overpaid benefits because she was legally married to her husband for XX years. She may also consider asking for a waiver of the overpayment, and information about how to do that may be found here: https://www.ssa.gov/forms/ssa-632.html. Note that she will need to establish very good reasons for a waiver to be granted, or she can appeal on the basis she cannot afford to repay it, as is specified in the instructions for same.
If you have any further questions, please email us at [email protected], or call us at 1.888.750.2622.
Russell Gloor
National Social Security Advisor
The AMAC Foundation