My wife was killed in a car accident in 2016 and i went to collect spouses benifits and they told me i couldn't get hers because i get disabilty and i have to take mine why cant i collect hers besides my disability we were married 30 years i think i should get hers also they said i couldn't so i asked them then whats going to happen to hers then so i think i should get hers and mine both

Hi,

I'm sorry for your loss.

Under the Social Security Act, if a person files for more than one type of Social Security benefit (e.g. retirement and spousal, survivor and disability, etc.) they can only be paid the higher of the two benefit rates, not both. Therefore, if you're already drawing Social Security disability (SSDI) benefits, you could only qualify for additional survivor benefits if the survivor benefit rate would be higher than your SSDI rate.

Best, Jerry