Hi,
I am 54 years old soon t be 55. I'm an RN of 25 years. My husband died 10/30/2015. He was drawing his retirement but would not draw his SS until the next year 2016. I work in the Emergency Room. I was assaulted by a person who was on drugs. She caused injury to my neck and I am scheduled to have surgery April 23rd/18. I had surgery 25 years ago and she caused damage at that site and above so I have to have a multi level fusion. I'm presently out of work on workers comp. The Neurosurgeon is thinking that I may not be able to go back to work in that line of work or I could be disabled. If I am disabled, what can I possibly draw off of ? My husband worked for General Motors/ Delphi and made better money than I did, however: I was paid quite well. My husband worked for them for 30 years so he never saw any of his SS. he would have been 63 in 2016. Thank you for taking time to read this and offering any advice. Sincerly, Tonya

Hi Tonya,

I'm sorry for your loss.

It sounds like you might qualify for Social Security disability benefits (SSDI) and possibly disabled widow's benefits (DWB), but only if your condition is determined by Social Security to be disabling by their standards (https://www.ssa.gov/planners/disability/qualify.html#anchor3). But, since you're receiving worker's compensation it's possible that your SSDI could be at least partially offset. How much, if any, offset would apply depends on your earnings history and workers compensation rate (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10018.pdf).

In any case you would probably want to at least consider filing for SSDI & DWB benefits if you will be unable to work for at least a year.

If it turns out that you're not eligible for disability benefits, you could likely qualify for widow's benefits as early as age 60 or for retirement benefits on your own record as early as age 62. However, if you're still working at that time your earnings could limit your ability to receive benefits prior to your full retirement age.

If you don't qualify for disability benefits, your best strategy would likely be one of the following:
1) File for reduced widow's benefits at age 60 or as soon as your earnings will permit at least some benefits to be paid, then switch to your own record at age 70; or,
2) File for reduced retirement benefits on your own record at age 62 or as soon as your earnings will permit at least some benefits to be paid, then file for unreduced widow's benefits at your full retirement age.

Generally, you would want to start out drawing the lower benefit first and then switch to the higher record when it reaches it's highest potential rate. Our maximization software could help you determine which of the above strategies would likely be best in your case.

Best, Jerry