I will be 65 in March 2021. My husband died 2011, he was 55yrs receiving disability benefits. I was getting widows benefits until I became disabled in 2017. I did get an increase in benefits by approx $300.00. I now receive $1217.00 . Is there any way to increase my benefits (my work record is poor) according to my age or any other rules that could apply to me?

Hi,

I'm sorry for your loss.

Apparently, your own benefit rate is higher than your reduced widow's rate, and you can only be paid the higher of those two rates. Therefore, the only way that you could receive a higher Social Security benefit amount is if you increase your own rate.

There's probably only two ways that you could increase your future benefit rate. One way would be to work and pay Social Security taxes, but that will only increase your rate if you earn more in a year than you did in one of the years currently being used to calculate your benefit rate. If you qualified for Social Security disability (SSDI) benefits at age 60 or 61, then your benefit rate would be calculated based on an average of your highest 32 to 34 years of wage-indexed earnings. So, in order to raise your rate, you'd have to earn more in a current or future year than you did in one of those highest 32 to 34 years.

However, if you return to work before full retirement age (FRA) and if you earn too much, you could potentially cause your SSDI benefits to stop. Generally, as long as you don't earn more than the amount that Social Security considers as 'substantial gainful activity' (SGA), your earnings won't cause your SSDI benefits to stop. The current monthly SGA amount for 2020 is $1,260. But, if you haven't worked previously since starting on SSDI, you wouldn't lose your SSDI benefits for at least the first 9 months that you work no matter how much you earn (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10095.pdf). The first 9 months of work is referred to as a trial work period (TWP). And, once you reach FRA, there will no longer be any limit on how much you can earn and still draw your benefits.

The other way that you could increase your future benefit rate is if you voluntarily suspend your benefits once you reach FRA. Your benefit rate would increase by 2/3rds of 1% for each month that you elect not to draw benefits between FRA and age 70. Unfortunately, though, you couldn't be paid widow's benefits while your own benefits are suspended.

Best, Jerry