My friends husband is incarcerated since 2014 at age 69. My friend his wife will turn 62 in 2022. Can she collect his social security since it is larger? If he passes before she turns 62 would she be able to collect widows benefits? Can she collect her ss as well as his?

Hi,

Your friend couldn't collect her husband's actual Social Security benefits, but she could potentially qualify for spousal or widow's benefits on his account. People generally can't be paid Social Security benefits while they're incarcerated, but that doesn't prevent the payment of auxiliary (e.g. spouse, child) benefits based on the work record of the incarcerated person.

As long as your friend's husband is living she could only qualify for spousal benefits if her husband's primary insurance amount (PIA) is more than twice as much as her PIA. A person's PIA is equal to the amount of their Social Security retirement benefit if they start drawing at full retirement age (FRA). If your friend applies for benefits at FRA she'd receive the higher of her own benefit rate or 50% of her husband's PIA. However, if she files at age 62 her benefit rate would be reduced by roughly 30% to 35%.

If your friend's husband dies before her she could receive the higher of a) her own benefit rate, or b) her husband's benefit rate, or c) 82.5% of her husband's PIA. Your friend couldn't be paid both her own Social Security retirement benefits and a full widow's benefit at the same time, but if her husband dies before she starts drawing her own retirement benefits then she could potentially draw the lower of her retirement rate or widow's rate first, and then switch to the higher of the two benefits when that benefit reaches it's maximum rate.

Our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) can sort out all of the benefit options outlined above so that people can determine the best possible filing strategy for maximizing their benefits.

Best, Jerry