My spouse died in 2020 when we both were age 63 (both born in 1956), and we were both working. I continued and still continue to work and am now age 67. I collected nothing from Social Security (we both qualified for benefits) until my full age of 66 as a survivor, when I began the larger benefit, the survivor benefit. I never collected on my own record. I am trying to get an appointment to see if my benefit would ever grow as large as the survivor benefit (at the time of filing, they told me likely it wouldn't). Am I able to collect any "back" Social Security on my own record? I didn't collect a reduced benefit on my own record, as I thought my own might possibly grow larger if I waited. Thank you!
Hi. I'm sorry for your loss. At this point, it would be too late to apply for retroactive reduced benefits from your own record. The maximum retroactivity allowed on an application is 6 months prior to the application month, and you can't claim benefits retroactively for months prior to your full retirement age (FRA). So, if you apply in May 2023 for your own Social Security retirement benefits, for example, the earliest that you could claim benefits is November 2022, assuming that you were already at least FRA at that time. And, you wouldn't be due any additional benefits for those months unless your own benefit rate is higher than the survivor benefit amount that you were already paid for those months.
Whether or not you could have been paid reduced benefits prior to FRA had you applied for them timely depends on how much you were earning. Until a person reaches FRA, some or all of their benefits must be withheld if they earn more than the Social Security earnings test exempt amount (https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/whileworking.html).
The only way that I can think of that might allow you to be paid benefits from your own account for months prior to your FRA is if you applied for survivor benefits in advance, and before the month you reached FRA. That would have established a protective filing date for any and all Social Security benefits for which you were eligible, and that application date could potentially be used to allow you to claim your own retirement benefits for months prior to when your survivor benefits started. However, even if there was a possibility of claiming your retirement benefits prior to entitlement month to survivor benefits, it might not be advantageous to do so if your own age 70 rate would be higher than your survivor benefit rate. In that case, it would likely be a better strategy to simply wait until age 70 to claim your own benefits.
The simple fact of the matter is that I don't have enough information about your situation to be able to give you any reliable advice. It sounds like you should probably consider making an appointment with Social Security to speak with a claims representative or technical expert regarding your options. They would have access to all of the information needed to explain your options to you.
Best, Jerry
