I worked. My ex husband of more than 10 years worked and was a higher wage earner than myself and my second ex husband and passed away. My second ex husband worked and is still living. I am currently collecting on a survivor benefit from my first ex husband. If my second ex husband passes away, I was told by a SS agent that I should come in when he passes that I could be eligible for a higher amount. Is this true? (Of the 3 of us the the first husband was the highest earner, the second ex husband second and of course as the female I was the lowest earner)

I thought that SS calculates both your work benefits and your survivor benefit by a percentage to get the full amount of the survivor benefit. In other words survivor alone would have gotten 2000, I would get 1000. SS pulls 1000 on my record and 1000 on the survivor and I get 2000.
That said, how can you collect early retirement and survivors and switch over at my full retirement age to just mine?

Hi,

If Social Security told you that you could get a higher benefit rate on your second husband's record in the event of his death, then they're probably correct. Social Security would have access to both of your ex's records, so they should know which of your ex's has the higher benefit rate. Of course, the Social Security representative you spoke with could have been mistaken, though.

In any case, you're essentially correct on how benefits are paid. If you file for your own benefits and your benefit rate is lower than your survivor rate, Social Security would pay you your own benefit rate plus a partial survivor benefit equal to the difference in the two benefit rates. Thus, your total benefit would add up to the higher survivor rate. If you're currently drawing on your first ex-spouse's record, the only way that you'd get more if your second ex-spouse dies is if his benefit rate is higher than your first ex's benefit rate.

I'm not sure that I follow your last question, but the only way that you could start out drawing survivor benefits and then switch to drawing just your own Social Security retirement benefits is if your own benefit rate is higher than the survivor rate. Basically, if you apply for more than one Social Security benefit, the total benefit you could be paid couldn't exceed the highest of the benefit rates.

Best, Jerry