My wife has just died. She was 60 at the time of her death. She has an expected full retirement benefit of $1,100/month. I am 63 and have an expected full retirement benefit of $2,800 / month. I do not need the cash from social security at present. I want to maximize my lifetime benefits from social security (I am in good health).
- What should my claiming strategy be?
- Specifically, should I claim survivor benefits now?
- And also, can I claim both a survivors payment and my own retirement payment (in other words - when I am 66 could I receive $3,900 / month from social security) or are they not additive?
Thanks

Hi,

I'm sorry for your loss.

You should probably claim widower's benefits now, and then switch to your own record at age 70. However, if you are still working the Social Security earnings test could result in full or partial withholding of your benefits until you reach full retirement age (FRA) (https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/whileworking2.html). That could also alter the optimal time to claim widower's benefits from now until a later date. You may want to strongly consider using the maximization software available on this website in order to compare all of your options and determine your best filing strategy.

The answer to your last question is no. If you filed for both widower's benefits and retirement benefits on your own record, you could only receive the higher of those 2 benefit rates.

Best, Jerry