First: I stumbled on your website recently while researching a SSA nightmare a friend is involved in, and am SO impressed with everything about it and you, the founders and contributors. I've recommended it to several couples in the last few months. Keep up the great work!

Second: My father just passed away in Dec at age 90. My mother is age 87, & in decent health, so could survive another 7-10 years (based on her family hx). I just told her about your site, but had forgotten there was a membership fee, so I'll just ask you outright: is access to your site worth a membership fee for her? My impression is that most of the info here is for those who are deciding when to start benefits & for certain complicated/multifactoral scenarios. She doesn't have questions, and seems to be handling things with SSA without problems. Am I correct in my assumptions? Any other advice you care to give me re her situation?

Thanks in advance,
Nancy

Hi Nancy,

I'm sorry for your loss.

It's probably unlikely that your mother would benefit from using the software. Assuming that she only had one marriage, it sounds like your mother should now be receiving the higher of her own retirement benefit rate or your father's full benefit rate. She may or may not need to apply for widow's benefits, depending on which benefit rate is higher, and whether or not she was previously receiving spousal benefits. There is also a one-time death benefit of $255 that can normally be paid to surviving spouses, so she'd likely want to file for that if she hasn't already done so.

Best, Jerry