Hi,

I'm sorry for your loss.

If you earn more than the Social Security earnings test exempt amount ($16,920 in 2017) you would lose some, but not necessarily all, of your widow's benefits. Specifically, Social Security would withhold $1 of your benefits for each $2 that you earn in excess of $16,920 this year (https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/whileworking2.html).

Since your husband filed for his benefits at age 62 and drew some reduced benefits prior to his death, your widow's rate would likely be limited to 82.5% of his primary insurance amount regardless of when you start drawing. And, if your own retirement benefit rate is higher than that, your best strategy would almost certainly be to start drawing your widow's benefits as soon as possible and then wait until age 70 to switch to your own record.

I'm basing my opinion above solely on the basis of the limited information in your question, though, so you may want to run the maximization software available on this website in order to be sure that you choose the best filing strategy.

Best, Jerry