Hi Larry, I purchased your program last year and haven’t done a thing with it. I went to the social security office and became very confused and disappointed because I was told totally different from what I read in your book. I am 61 soon to be 62 in August. I thought I was going to get a job but no such luck. My current monthly income is $1300 my expenses $3500. Very sad to say I’m sinking fast. I was told by Social Security personnel I would be entitled to $1800 from husbands benefits. However when I went to talk to Social Security they kept talking about my benefits, which would be approximately the same amount. Sorry for long version but I don’t want to make any further mistakes than I already have and believe I’ve made a lot, I’m very close to bankruptcy. My question Is how do I go about claiming my widows benefit without touching my benefits until I’m 70? The people at Social Security are poorly trained or they have been trained to take your benefits from you. I desperately need to collect my husbands benefits now but I don’t want to lose any more money than I have to. Please advise and thank you for your valuable service you provide.

Regina

Hi Regina,

I'll start by explaining that I answer questions on this forum, but I don't have access to our software customers' information. Therefore, my knowledge of your circumstances is limited to what you've stated in your question. Software customers should submit any questions that they have using an online contact form in the help menu so that their questions can be answered by one of our experts with access to their customer data.

If you are potentially eligible for both Social Security retirement and widow's benefits and you haven't yet filed for either of those benefits, you can apply for just one type of benefit by restricting the scope of your application to one type of benefit only. There is a question on the application for widow's benefits that asks if you want your application to also be considered as an application for retirement benefits on your own record, and you would want to answer that 'no' in order to restrict retirement benefits from the scope of your application. You can also add a statement in the remarks section of the application such as 'I wish to restrict the scope of my application to widow's benefits only'. The actual application forms for widow's benefits are completed by a Social Security representative based the answers you give them, so you'll want to be sure to tell them what you want to do. And, you'll want to carefully review your copy of the application which will be given to you after you apply.

If you haven't done so recently, you'll probably want to use our software to confirm your optimal filing strategy and make sure that you've identified the best month to choose to start your widow's benefits. Assuming that you do end up filing for widow's benefits first and you delay filing for your own benefits, you'll need to file another application at some point in the future (likely when you reach age 70) in order to switch to your own Social Security retirement benefits.

Best, Jerry