Am 65yr old widow...at about 55 was represented by binder & binder. At adjudication was represented by young woman who I don't think was an attorney..had wrong file. Man felt sorry for her I think..offered to age 50. She advised me to take it..had no time to think. Worked since before 15 yrs old live on less than 900 month. So unfair..is there anything I can do? Thank you
Elizabeth

Hi Elizabeth,

I'm not sure that I understand what happened in your case. I assume that what you were applying for when you were age 55 was disabled widow's benefits (DWB). If that's the case and if you were approved for those benefits, your DWB benefits would be paid at a rate equal to 71.5% of your husband's primary insurance amount (PIA). Your benefit rate would be the same whether you started drawing DWB anytime between age 50 and age 60, so it would have been to your advantage to start drawing DWB benefits as early as possible.

If what you applied for instead was Social Security disability (SSDI) benefits based on your own earnings history, those benefits are paid at 100% of your PIA regardless of your age at the time you start drawing.
Therefore, it's also to your advantage to claim those benefits as early as possible.

Based on your description, it sounds like your representative was trying to get you benefits starting as early as possible, which would have been advantageous whether you were claiming either SSDI or DWB or both. There isn't enough information in your question for me to be able to know if you could be eligible for any additional benefits, though, so you may want to contact Social Security to see if you have other options.

Best, Jerry