Hi Larry, I am 64 yrs old, employeed and live in San Diego, California. My husband passed way in 2018 and was not collecting any Social Security Benefits. My full retirement age is 66 yrs old. Due to my health issues I would like to apply and claim my own Social Security Benefis next year at the age of 65. Then when I reach my full retirement age of 66 yrs old switch over to apply and claim my widows survivorship Social Security Benefits. Is this acceptable and a legal option. I would stop working full time at 65 yrs of age. Would I end up with a survivorship Social Security Benefits reduction going forward ? Thank you, Karen

Hi Karen. I'm sorry for your loss. Yes, what you're thinking about doing is essentially legal and possible, but you couldn't actually switch from drawing your own benefits to drawing just survivor benefits. Instead, if your widow's rate is higher than your own rate and if you start out drawing your own benefits first, when you later file for survivor benefits you'd get a partial widow's benefit equal to the difference between your own rate and your widow's rate. That would then be paid in addition to your own benefit, meaning that your total rate would be equal to your higher widow's rate.

What you propose might be your best option, but probably only if your own benefit rate at age 70 would be lower than your unreduced widow's rate. Also, depending on how much you're earning you may be able to start drawing benefits even before you retire, which could be advantageous in your case.

The best filing strategy for someone with your options is almost always one of the following:
1) File for reduced widow's benefits now 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 now or as soon as your earnings will permit at least some benefits to be paid, then file for unreduced widow's benefits at full retirement age (FRA).

Normally, you would want to start out drawing the lower benefit first and then switch to the higher benefit when it reaches it's highest potential rate. Our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) could help sort all of this out for you so that you can determine the best strategy for maximizing your benefits.

Best, Jerry