I am 66 & 4 months old and was born in Jan 1956. I work full time & may do so until age 70 and am a higher earner. I have not filled for Social Security yet., SS estimates if I do not fill until age 70, my SS benefits would be about $1,00 more a month. I became widowed in Feb 2015, but have never filled for widows benefits as I understood they took benefits away for earned income until I reached full retirement age, which I am at now. My deceased husband took benefits at age 62. We have a disabled adult son who collects on his record, his benefit is around $1,100 a month. My questions: Am I able to collect my widows benefit regardless of earned income now and not fill for my own SSR until age 70, as my befits then would be in neighborhood of $3,500 monthly ? Will our disabled adult child benefit from my maximizing my SSR benefits, collecting on his dad & then switching to collecting from my account when I retire or am deceased?

Hi. Yes, and if your age 70 benefit rate will be significantly higher than than your widow's rate then you should almost certainly apply for widow's benefits now and wait until age 70 to claim your own benefits.

Your disabled adult child (DAC) could potentially switch to drawing benefits from your account when you apply for your own benefits. DAC benefits payable on the account of a living parent are calculated based on 50% of the parent's primary insurance amount (PIA), whereas surviving DAC benefits are calculated based on 75% of the deceased parent's PIA. A person's PIA is equal to their Social Security retirement benefit rate if they start drawing their benefits at full retirement age (FRA). So, your son would only want to switch to collecting benefits on your account if his benefit would be higher than his current DAC rate.

It sounds like you may want to strongly consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to fully analyze all of your options so that you can make sure that you choose the best possible filing strategy for maximizing your benefits.

Best, Jerry