I am 67. My plan is to take social security when I turn 70. What will happen to my wife's survivor benefit should I die before reaching 70 and claiming social security benefits? Will she be entitled to the benefits I would qualify for based on my age at the time of my death or would the benefits simply be those calculated at my full retirement age (66)?

Hi,

If you die between now and age 70 and before filing for benefits, your wife's unreduced widow's benefit rate would be calculated at 100% of the benefit rate that you would have received if you had started drawing your Social Security retirement benefits effective with the month of your death. Her rate would include all of the delayed retirement credits (DRC) that you accumulated up until the time of your death. DRCs amount to 8% per year, or 2/3rds of 1% per month for each month that a person delays taking benefits starting at full retirement age (FRA) and continuing up until age 70.

For example, say James dies on his 68th birthday without having applied for benefits. James' full retirement age was age 66 and his primary insurance amount (PIA), which is equivalent to his full retirement age benefit rate, was $2000. If James hadn't died and had instead started drawing his retirement benefits effective with his month of death, he would have received a monthly rate of $2320 (i.e. 1.16 x $2000). Thus, James' widow would be eligible for a survivor rate of $2320 if she starts drawing her widow's benefits at FRA or later. She couldn't receive that full amount plus her own Social Security retirement benefits at the same time, though, just the higher of the 2 amounts.

You and your wife should strongly consider using our maximization software in order to full explore and compare all of your benefit options so that you can determine your best overall strategy for claiming benefits.

Best, Jerry