My sister-in law is 66 and her 80-year-old husband just died. He was collecting retirement benefits, but she never filed for her retirement. She wants to collect a widow's benefit, but she still needs to work full time. Is there a limit to what she can earn? Can she go back and collect retroactively to when he was still alive and prior to his death?

Hi. The only way that your sister in law could claim retroactive spousal or retirement benefits is if she's past her full retirement age (FRA). In that case she could potentially claim retirement and spousal benefits for up to 6 months retroactively, but not prior to the month she reached FRA. If your sister in law was born in 1955, her FRA for retirement and spousal benefits is 66 & 2 months, but if she was born in 1956 then her FRA would be 66 & 4 months (https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/agereduction.html).

Whichever month your sister in law reaches FRA for retirement/spousal benefits is the first month that she could earn an unlimited amount and still be able to collect benefits. However, if she hasn't yet reached FRA she may still be able to collect benefits before her FRA depending on how much she's earning (https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/whileworking.html).

FRA for widow's benefits for people born in either 1955 or 1956 is the month they turn 66 (https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/survivors/survivorchartred.html), so your sister in law has apparently already reached FRA for widow's benefits. Therefore, she most likely would want to claim widow's benefits as soon as possible. If her own retirement benefit rate would be higher than her widow's rate, she could then allow her own benefit rate to grow until age 70 before switching to her own record.

It sounds like your sister in law should strongly consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to fully analyze all of her options so that she can determine her best filing strategy for maximizing benefits.

Best, Jerry