Hi Larry I want to know could I collect my dead husband social security I'm only 58 I'm getting a small pension of his now. We don't have any children together.
Thank u

Hi. You can't collect another person's actual Social Security benefits on contributions, but you may be able to qualify for widow's benefits at some point. Unless you're disabled, the earliest that you could potentially qualify for Social Security widow's benefits is at age 60. But, if you start drawing widow's benefits prior to your full retirement age (FRA) your benefit will be reduced for age. The requirements for entitlement to widow's benefits are outlined in the following section of Social Security's handbook: https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/handbook/handbook.04/handbook-0401.html.

If you do qualify for widow's benefits and if you will also be eligible for Social Security benefits based on your own earnings history, your best filing strategy would probably be one of the following assuming that you aren't disabled:
1) File for reduced widow's benefits at age 60 or as soon as your earnings will permit at least some benefits to be paid, then switch to your own record at age 70; or,
2) File for reduced retirement benefits on your own record at age 62 or as soon as your earnings will permit at least some benefits to be paid, then file for unreduced widow's benefits at full retirement age (FRA).

Normally, you would want to start out drawing the lower benefit first and then switch to the higher benefit when it reaches it's highest potential rate. Our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) could help sort all of this out for you so that you can determine the best strategy for maximizing your benefits.

Best, Jerry