Hi my husband passed away in 2007.i collect his pension..i am t8 now and plan on collecting his social security ay the age 60..i plan on retiring in 2 or3 years..i have been working at my job dor 18 yrs now. His social security $ will be more then mine.he worked for liberty lines then the twu took over.he worked all his life.will i get his partial amount..i was going to call and find out.

Hi,

I'm sorry for your loss.

If you file for widow's benefits at age 60, your widow's rate will be reduced by 28.5% from your unreduced full retirement age rate. Your benefits will also potentially be subject to full or partial withholding depending on the amount of your earnings due to Social Security's earnings test (https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/whileworking2.html).

Your best filing strategy is likely one of the following:
1) File for widow's benefits at age 60 or as soon as your earnings will permit benefits to be paid, then switch to your own record at age 70; or,
2) File for retirement benefits on your own record at age 62 or as soon as your earnings will permit benefits to be paid, then file for unreduced widow's benefits at your full retirement age. However, if your husband received reduced retirement benefits prior to his death then you would likely want to file for widow's benefits sooner than your full retirement age.

Generally, you would want to start out drawing the lower benefit first and then switch to the higher record when it reaches it's highest potential rate. The maximization software available on this website can sort this all out for you and help you determine your best overall filing strategy.

Best, Jerry