I am 67 and retired collecting my own social security. I was just told that I could have been collecting my deceased ex-husands social security when I turned 62 until I retired at age 66 then switch to my social security. We were married 14 years and I am not married. Can I go back & collect from his social security from age 62 to 66?

Hi,

Unfortunately, no. The maximum retroactivity permitted for survivor benefit claims is 6 months, so if you're already age 67 it would be too late to apply for any benefits that you may have been eligible for prior to age 66.

However, depending on when you filed your application for your own retirement benefits, it may be possible for Social Security to use the date of that application as an application for survivor benefits. Whether or not that would allow you to collect any survivor benefits prior to the month that you started drawing your own benefits depends on a number of different factors, though. What you may want to do is contact Social Security to see if using the filing date of your prior application for benefits on your own account would permit you to be paid any survivor benefits.

Best, Jerry