My husband passed away at age 41 and I am the same age. We have three children under the age of 18 and am wondering what my options are for receiving social security benefits. I was told that I could collect survivor benefits for the three children as well as myself.

1) If I collect the survivor benefits now, does that impact what I am able to collect at retirement from my husband's social security record (he made more money than I did)?
2) If I find a job that puts me above range for collecting survivor social security, could I restart the survivor benefits if I decide to leave the job and my children are still under the age of 18? How much flexibility is there to stop/start collection of survivor benefits?

thank you

Hi,

I'm sorry for your loss.

Yes, drawing survivor benefits while your children are young, which Social Security refers to as mother's or father's benefits, would have no adverse effect on your future widow's rate or benefit options. Nor would it adversely affect your own retirement benefit rate or benefit options.

In order to qualify for mother's benefits you must have an eligible child in care who's either under age 16 or disabled. Payment of the benefits could be subject to full or partial withholding if you work and earn more than the exempt amount allowed under Social Security's earnings test (https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/whileworking.html). In 2020, for example, $1 of benefits would be withheld for each $2 that you earn in excess of $18,240.

You can't voluntarily stop and restart benefits after you've applied, but your benefits could be involuntarily stopped and restarted depending on how much you earn. Basically, if you return to work and earn too much to be due benefits, Social Security would suspend your benefits. However, they could potentially reinstate your benefits if you subsequently stop or reduce your work and earnings.

Best, Jerry