I was with my husband for 20 yrs. Married 7. He died at 35. My income was more than his. I am on disability so they said I can't claim survivor benefits. We had no children. That was in 2001. Is it true I can't get survivor benefits?

Hi. I'm sorry for your loss. I'm assuming that you were still married to your husband at the time of his death, since you would need to have been married for at least 10 years to potentially qualify for survivor benefits as a divorced spouse.

It sounds like what you were told is probably true, but I can't tell you for sure without access to your and your husband's Social Security records. First of all, the earliest that a disabled widow can qualify for survivor benefits is at age 50, unless they are caring for an eligible child who qualifies for benefits on the deceased worker's record. Even if you're at least age 50, though, you couldn't qualify for survivor benefits if your husband's primary insurance amount (PIA) is lower than your own PIA. So, I would need to know both your and your husband's PIAs to be able to tell you for sure if or when you could qualify for survivor benefits.

When a person is eligible for more than one type of Social Security benefit (e.g. survivor and disability benefits), they can't be paid both benefits in full. The most that they could be paid is basically the higher of the 2 benefit rates. Therefore, if your full Social Security disability (SSDI) benefit rate is higher than your husband's PIA, you wouldn't be able to collect any benefits from his account.

Best, Jerry