I was disabled for over 10 years before age 65. My husband was killed in an auto accident in 1991 . So I am an unmarried widow from his death (1991) forward. I will be 70 in July and was now wondering if maybe I might have been cheated out of some of my benefits. I'm collecting on by deceased husbands Social Security account.

Hi,

I'm sorry for your loss.

You don't mention when you started drawing widow's benefits, and I don't have enough information about your work history to know if you had any other benefit options. In any case, it's almost certainly too late for you to claim any benefits that you may have been eligible for in the distant past. It's incumbent on a person who is potentially eligible for Social Security benefits to file a timely application, since benefits aren't paid automatically. Back pay can only be claimed for a maximum of 6 months from the month of application for survivor or retirement benefits, and disability claims have a 12 month limit on retroactivity. No disability benefits are paid after a person reaches full retirement age (FRA), though, so it would be too late for you to claim disability benefits even if you could have qualified for them in the past.

It sounds like your only option at this point would be to file for retirement benefits based on your own work record if you haven't already done so. However, you could only draw the higher of your own retirement benefit rate or your widow's rate, so there would probably be no reason to file for your retirement benefits unless that benefit amount would be higher than the amount that you currently receive on your husband's record.

You may want to check with Social Security to see if you might be eligible for any additional benefits, or you could use our software to determine if your retirement benefit rate would be higher than your widow's rate.

Best, Jerry