Hi Jerry,
My husband passed away in 2007. He was 60 and I was 48. I am now 60 and I've retired from my job. I can take his social security at a reduced rate of 71.5% ($1616) at 60 and take mine ($1892.50) at 70. Or….I can take mine at 62 ($1076) and then take his at full retirement age (66 yrs. 6 months) $2172/month. I'm no mathematician and need help!! I'm not even sure I can take mine first and then transfer to his. The social security office told me I could not, but I've read differently! Also, I understand that if he was on active duty before 1968, I can bring his DD 214 and he may get more per month. I was told I didn’t need it; that it was already included in the amounts SS has. Also, I see there’s something called Windex. Can you explain that? Any help you can give me will be SO MUCH appreciated! Thank you!
Hi,
I'm sorry for your loss.
If $1892.50 is your own projected benefit rate if you wait until age 70 to start drawing and if $2172 is your potential unreduced widow's rate, then your best option would likely be to file for your own benefits at age 62 and then file for unreduced widow's benefits at your full retirement age (FRA). That way, once you start drawing your widow's benefits you'll be receiving your highest possible monthly benefit rate for as long as you live. That's my opinion, but you may want to use our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to run your numbers so that you can decide for yourself.
When a person is potentially eligible for both Social Security retirement and widow(er) benefits, it's generally a good plan to start out drawing the lower benefit first and then switch to the higher benefit when it reaches it's highest rate. The earliest that you can draw your own retirement benefits is 62, and your FRA for widow's benefits would be when your widow's benefits would reach their highest rate. If you were born in 1959 your widow's benefit FRA would be 66 & 6 months, but if you were born in 1960 then your widow's benefit FRA would be 66 & 8 months (https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/survivors/survivorchartred.html#h2).
If you start out drawing your own benefits first, you won't 'transfer' to just drawing a widow's benefit at FRA. Instead, when you reach FRA you can file for an unreduced partial widow's benefit equal to the difference in your full widow's rate and your own rate. That partial widow's benefit would then be paid in addition to your own benefit, giving you a monthly rate equal to the higher full widow's rate (i.e. $2172 per your figures).
WINDEX is an alternate method of computing widow's benefits that can be used in cases where the deceased worker died prior to the year they would have reached age 62. Basically, when calculating the WINDEX rate, Social Security indexes the worker's historical earnings based on the year the widow reaches age 60. In the normal computation method, a worker's historical earnings are indexed based on the earlier of year the worker reaches age 60, or 2 years prior to their year of death. WINDEX computations generally yield a higher widow's rate if average wages outpaced cost of living increases during the period of time between the worker's death and the year the widow reaches age 60.
Your widow's rate will be calculated using both the normal computation method and the WINDEX method, and then the higher of those two rates will be selected by Social Security's computer. Our software is also fully programed to handle both regular and WINDEX computations.
When you do end up applying for widow's benefits, if your husband had active military service prior to 1968 you should submit proof of his service (e.g. form DD-214) to Social Security. In spite of what you were apparently told, deemed military wages (https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/handbook/handbook.09/handbook-0953.html) didn't start being credited automatically until 1968. In order to get deemed military wage credits for years prior to 1968, Social Security needs to see proof of the person's active duty.
Best, Jerry
