My husband died in 1989, he was 50 years old, and I was 47years old. We were married 28 years. I remarried in 1991 and divorced in 1993. In 1995 I had a near fatal automobile accident and suffered multiple serious injuries and had to be resuscitated at the scene of the accident. I was unable to work for two years. I drew two years of temporary social security. I was 53 years old when I had the accident. I returned to work when I was 55 years old. I retired I retired when I was 65 in 2007. I was retired one year and I returned to work in 2008, I was 66 years old. Today I am 74 1/2 y ears old. My question is: could I have been drawing social security from my deceased husband?

Hi,

Possibly. Widow's benefits can be paid as early as age 60, or even 50 if the widow is disabled. Of course, your husband would have to have paid into Social Security long enough to be insured. And, if you were drawing disability or retirement benefits on your own record and that benefit rate was higher than your widow's rate, you couldn't have received additional widow's benefits.

You don't state what your current status is with regard to Social Security, but I assume that you are receiving benefits on your own record. If you've never checked to see if you could qualify for additional widow's benefits, you might want to do that by contacting Social Security.

Best, Jerry