I will be 65 in June of 2021. I am still working full time and hope to keep working until 67. My husband passed away in 2017 at 69. He was collecting his SS at a reduced rate when he was 64.
I plan to file for widows benefits as soon as i can without a penalty. Do i have to wait until i am 66 4 months to file for my deceased husbands benefits without a penalty or can i apply earlier at 65? I will be switching to my benefits at 70.
Thank you!

Hi,

I'm sorry for your loss.

If your husband started drawing his Social Security retirement benefits at age 64, your widow's benefit rate probably would already have reached it's maximum rate. When a deceased worker collected reduced retirement benefits prior to their death, the maximum benefit rate that can be paid to a widow is limited to the higher of a) the worker's reduced benefit rate, or b) 82.5% of the worker's primary insurance amount (PIA). A person's PIA is equal to their Social Security retirement benefit rate if they start drawing their benefits at full retirement age (FRA).

Since you're nearing age 65, it sounds like you'd probably already be eligible for your highest possible widow's rate. However, whether or not you could actually be paid any benefits prior to your FRA depends on how much you're earning. If you continue working throughout 2021, for example, Social Security would likely need to withhold $1 of your benefits for each $2 that you earn in excess of $18,960 this year. You may want to strongly consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to fully analyze the options available to you in order to determine your best strategy for maximizing your benefits.

Best, Jerry