Hello Larry,
Will you please help me to understand... widow's benefits. (i will be 61 on...10-5-2021)
is it possible for me to ....first ...receive my own reduced social security benefit at 62
for me... @62=$805 & @67= $1,143.
and then.... later.... receive my deceased husbands when i become full retirement age 67 ?
social security tells me... from my deceased husband...
for me... @60=$1,489 & @ 67= $2,027
i was told that even though my husband started receiving his social security early...
that... for me... if i left it alone untill FRA... that it would still grow incrementally from the amount he was receiving. .... is this true ?
thank you,.....for helping so many people...sincerely,marcy

Hi. I'd be skeptical of what you were told. If the type of benefit that your husband collected prior to his death was reduced Social Security retirement benefits, then your unreduced widow's benefit rate would be limited to the higher of a) 82.5% of your husband's primary insurance amount (PIA), or b) your husband's reduced benefit rate inclusive of any cost of living increases (COLA) that occurred since his death. A person's PIA is equal to their Social Security retirement benefit rate if they start drawing their benefits at full retirement age (FRA). The only way that you could qualify for a full for 100% of your husband's PIA at your FRA is if he either didn't start drawing his retirement benefits prior to his FRA or if the type of benefit he collected was Social Security disability (SSDI).

In any case, since your own Social Security retirement benefit rate would apparently be lower than your widow's rate even if you waited until age 70 to claim your own benefits, your best filing strategy would almost certainly be to claim your own benefits as soon as possible and then apply for your widow's benefits when they reach their maximum rate. You can start collecting your own benefits as early as age 62 assuming that you aren't working and earning too much (https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/whileworking.html), and you could then apply for your widow's benefits either at your FRA or somewhat earlier if your husband did collect reduced retirement benefits prior to his death. The optimal time for you to claim your widow's benefits could be anywhere from when you reach about age 62 1/2 to age 66 & 8 months depending on when and if your husband started collecting Social Security retirement benefits. Since you were born in 1960, age 66 & 8 months would be your FRA for widow's benefits even though your FRA for retirement benefits is age 67.

Our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) could sort all of this out for you so that you can determine your optimal filing strategy, but you'd need to find out from Social Security the amount of your husband's PIA and his age at the time he started drawing Social Security retirement benefits assuming that he did in fact collect those benefits prior to his FRA.

Best, Jerry