My plan all along for collecting SS is this. My husband waited until age 70 to start collect SS Retirement Benefits to take advantage of delayed retirement credits. I’m 9 years younger than my husband and I plan on filing for my Retirement Benefits at my full retirement age of 67. Due to deemed filing, at age 67 I would receive a small amount of retirement benefits based on my work record and a much larger amount of spousal benefits based on my husband’s work record understanding the entire amount would not exceed 50% of what he would have received at his FRA. Then, assuming my husband passes first, at my full retirement age I would be entitled to 100% of his benefit he was receiving at his death which is substantial due to delayed retirement credits.

Second, we also have an adult disabled child who will start receiving Childhood Disability Benefits as well off my husband’s work record.

I found out that I am also entitled to Child in Care Spousal Benefits off by husbands work record at any age which is 50% of his PIA or 75% of his PIA if he passes away (assuming there is no Family Maximum Reduction). My question is, if I take Child in Care Benefits and my husband passes away will I be locked in this 75% of his PIA deceased Child in Care Benefit for life?

I read that if you a widow and receiving Child in Care Benefits and you reach your full retirement age you will automatically be “deemed” to have filed for your widow benefit and your Child in Care Benefit will terminate. I was wondering if that is true?

If that’s the case, it would be much better for me to have my Child in Care Benefits stop and my Widow’s benefit start at my FRA because my Widow’s benefit would be 100% of what my deceased husband was receiving at his death (substantially more) vs the 75% of his PIA amount for Child in Care Survivor benefit.

Hi. No, you would be free to switch from child in care to widow's benefits at any time after your husband's death, and as long as you are at least full retirement age (FRA) when you start drawing widow's benefits you'll be eligible for your husband's full benefit rate including his delayed retirement credits (DRC). You won't get your own benefit plus your husband's full amount, though, just the higher of the 2 benefit amounts.

Child in care survivor benefits don't necessarily convert to widow(er) benefits at FRA. For example, a person could elect to continue to receive child in care benefits past their FRA while waiting until age 70 to claim their own benefits. However, that strategy would only be advantageous for someone whose own Social Security retirement benefit rate would be higher at age 70 than their maximum potential survivor rate.

If both you and your child are drawing auxiliary (e.g. child in care spousal, disabled adult child) benefits on your husband's account then the family maximum benefit (FMB) will reduce your and your child's benefit rates. But, if you're eligible for Social Security retirement benefits and if you apply for those benefits then the FMBs from your account and your husband's account could be combined. That could potentially free up more total benefits to be paid to your family, but whether or not it would be advantageous in your specific case depends on the details involved, It sounds like you should strongly consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to fully analyze all of your various options so that you can determine the best strategy for maximizing benefits for your family.

Best, Jerry