Both my wife and I are 59. I have had cancer 2 times but am now clear of it. However was wondering, if I die before age 62 will my wife qualify for my earned social security benefits. We have no children under age 16. Thanks

Hi,

Yes, if you die and you earned at least 40 quarters of Social Security coverage (QC), your wife could potentially qualify for widow's benefits on your record. And, if you died before age 62 the minimum number of QCs required would even be slightly less than 40.

Your wife would need to be at least age 60 in order to start drawing widow's benefits, and if she's eligible for Social Security retirement benefits on her own record she would not be able to draw both her own benefits and a full widow's benefit at the same time. She could basically receive only the higher of those 2 amounts. She might, however, have several options available to her depending on her age at the time of your death, such as filing for widow's benefits first and waiting until age 70 to claim her retirement benefits, or filing for reduced retirement benefits first and then claiming unreduced widow's benefits at her full retirement age or later. Her optimal strategy would depend on your relative benefit rates among a number of other factors.

You and your wife should strongly consider using our maximization software in order to explore and compare your various options in order to identify your best overall plan for claiming your benefits.

Best, Jerry