I purchased your book, Get What’s Yours, but have a question. I became disabled at 52 and receive SSDI. I am now 58 and remain unmarried. My ex-spouse of 10 years was 6 years older than me. He took an early disability retirement prior to my 52’nd birthday. He passed away in April 2022. I originally planned to request my spousal benefit when I turn 62, but now Im confused. I believe his death makes me an ex-spouse survivor and I might be eligible now to claim half of his benefit. Is now the best time? Should I apply and postpone? I’m not sure what to do.

Hi. If your ex-spouse's benefit rate was higher than your benefit rate, then it would almost certainly be advantageous for you to apply for surviving divorced spousal benefits immediately. Assuming that you qualify, you'd then get a survivor benefit equal to 71.5% of the difference between your Social Security disability (SSDI) benefit rate and your ex's SSDI rate. That would then be paid in addition to your own SSDI benefit.

Based on your description, you wouldn't gain anything by postponing collecting survivor benefits. Even though divorced survivor benefits are reduced for age, that percentage reduction is removed when you reach full retirement age (FRA) as long as you were collecting SSDI benefits when you started drawing survivor benefits (https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0300615350).

Best, Jerry