I'm 73, retired, started collecting Social Security at FRA. My wife is 57 1/2 retired on a pension of 11180 per year. Can my wife collect benefits at 62 on her own employment record and when I die, wait until her FRA and collect her own benefit and 1/2 of my FRA benefit. I am guessing that the amount she would receive at my death would be approximately what my benefit was.

Hi,

Your wife could certainly file for reduced benefits on her own record at age 62, and she could file for widow's benefits if you die before her. And as long as she doesn't start drawing widow's benefits before her full retirement age (FRA), her widow's rate would be calculated as the difference between your full benefit rate and her own reduced rate, which would effectively bring her combined rate up to your full rate.

However, if your wife files for benefits at age 62 she'll be stuck with reduced retirement benefits for as long as both of you are living. And, whenever she files for her own benefits she'll be deemed to be applying for spousal benefits on your record as well, but only if 50% of your full retirement age rate (PIA) is higher than her own PIA. If she is eligible for additional spousal benefits from your record and files before FRA, both her own retirement rate and her spousal rate will be reduced for age. That wouldn't cause her widow's rate to be reduced, though.

By the way, my answer assumes that your wife's pension is not a government pension based on her work that was exempt from Social Security taxes. If it is, her spousal and/or widow's benefits would likely be subject to at least partial offset due to the Government Pension Offset provision (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10007.pdf).

Your wife may want to strongly consider using our maximization software in order to explore all of her filing options and determine her best strategy.

Best, Jerry