I've been dealing with Social Security for my mom who just lost my dad. Her situation is different (she never worked) but we found out survivor benefits are only retroactive for 6 months. So definitely apply as soon as possible when the time comes. Hope your husband lives a good long life though! 💜

One final clarification that might help: If you're receiving your own reduced retirement benefit now and later become eligible for survivor benefits, you have options: 1. You can continue receiving your reduced retirement benefit and wait until your FRA to apply for unreduced survivor benefits ($2,150) 2. You can apply for reduced survivor benefits now (you'd get less than $2,150) and switch from your own benefit The optimal strategy depends on the difference between your current benefit and the survivor benefit you'd receive now vs. at FRA. SSA should be able to tell you the exact amounts to help you decide which option is best when the time comes.

You mentioned your FRA benefit would be $2400 and your husband's is $3200. Honestly with those numbers, you probably want to focus on maximizing your own benefit rather than spousal benefits anyway. If you took spousal at your FRA, you'd get $1600 (half of his). If you took it early at 62, you'd get even less - around $1120. That's a lot less than your own benefit even with early filing reductions. Have you considered when you actually need the income? If you can wait until 70, your $2400 FRA benefit becomes around $3000/month. That's the permanent value of delaying.

One more thing to consider: survivor benefits. If either of you passes away, the surviving spouse gets to keep the higher of the two benefit amounts. If you expect your husband to have a longer life expectancy, then maximizing your benefit might not be as important. But if you think you might outlive him, having him maximize his benefit by waiting until 70 could provide you with a larger survivor benefit later. Running the numbers with a financial advisor who specializes in Social Security claiming strategies might be worthwhile given your benefit amounts.

whats FRA mean? keep seeing that mentioned

Thank you all for your responses! I'm feeling much better now knowing this delay isn't unusual. I'll give it another couple weeks before following up. It sounds like I should keep checking my online account daily and not just wait for a letter. Really appreciate all the insights!

one thing nobody mentioned yet - if u withdraw and reapply later u can still only go back 6 months max when u reapply. so don't wait too long thinking u can get a big lump sum for all those months u waited!

Based on what you've shared about your situation, here's what I'd recommend: 1. Since you'll be earning $65,000, which is well above the $22,320 earnings limit, a significant amount of your benefits will be withheld. 2. The SSA withholds benefits starting from January of each year until they've covered the projected withholding amount. This means you might receive no benefits for several months of the year. 3. For every month where your entire benefit is withheld due to work, the SSA will adjust your early retirement reduction when you reach full retirement age. 4. Given your earnings and the short time since you started benefits, the automatic adjustment at FRA might be more advantageous than withdrawing and repaying $18,000 now. I'd recommend creating a my Social Security account online and using the retirement calculator to model both scenarios with your specific numbers.

one more thing nobody mentioned - divorced spouse benefits are only available if he isn't remarried!!! if he got remarried after your divorce then completely different rules apply

A quick note on benefit amounts: the maximum divorced spousal benefit at FRA is 50% of your Primary Insurance Amount (PIA), which is what you'd receive at your FRA (not necessarily what you're currently receiving on SSDI). Since your ex would be claiming early at 64, his benefit would be reduced to approximately 35-37% of your PIA. Also, I want to emphasize again that if he has his own Social Security benefit, he'll only receive the higher of either his own benefit or the divorced spousal benefit - not both. This is why getting accurate calculations from SSA is so important before making any decisions.

why is social security so confusing???? i swear they make it this way on purpose so people don't get what they deserve

One thing no one mentioned yet - make SURE you tell them you're applying for the spousal benefit specifically. When I did this, the first agent I talked to just said "you already have benefits" and almost dismissed me. I had to specifically say "I want to apply for the spousal supplement on my husband's record." Use those exact words. Also, I found calling right when they open (8am in most locations) drastically reduced my wait time.

My wife applied online and I applied by phone the same day (we're the same age). Funny enough, her benefit started two weeks before mine! Don't know if that was just luck or if online really is faster.

has anyone noticed if benefits are calculated differently depending on how u apply?? my neighbor said she got more money by going in person bc the agent found some missing earnings in her record.

at 63 ur not at full retirement age so they take back money if u work too much. my sister just went thru this she had to pay back like $3200 when she made too much at her job. but when she turn 66 and 8 months (her fra) they adjusted her benefit up a little bit to make up for it

Thanks everyone for the helpful information! This cleared up a lot of my confusion. I'm going to call SSA to let them know about my expected earnings so they can adjust my benefits proactively rather than hit me with a surprise later. I'll make sure to emphasize that I'm talking about net self-employment income after expenses, not gross revenue. It's a relief to know this is just a temporary withholding and not another permanent reduction on top of the early claiming reduction I already took. Makes my decision about taking on more work much easier!

When I needed my PIA info, I just went to the local SSA office and they printed everything out for me. Showed what I'd get at 62, FRA (which was 66+8mo for me), and 70. No calculations needed. Just sayin there's an easier way if you don't mind waiting at the office for a bit.

If he's registered on the my Social Security website (SSA.gov), he should be able to view his entire earnings history and benefit estimates. The site will show his PIA (the amount at his FRA) as well as reduced and increased amounts at different claim ages. Alternatively, he can request a Social Security Statement by filing Form SSA-7004, which will show this information. Either option is more accurate than our calculations since SSA has his complete earnings record and can calculate the exact amount.

I had a similar situation with my late husband. One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet - if your sister does qualify for survivor benefits but is still under her full retirement age when she starts collecting, the benefit amount will be reduced. At age 60 (the earliest a non-disabled widow can claim), she would get about 71.5% of his full benefit amount. Each month she waits after that increases the percentage slightly until she reaches her full retirement age (probably around 67 for her age), when she would get 100% of his benefit. If she qualifies as a disabled widow and starts benefits at age 50, the reduction is even more significant - about 71.5% of his benefit. But sometimes getting some money earlier is better than waiting for the full amount. Also, while the 9-month marriage rule is generally firm, there are very specific exceptions. One exception is if the death was accidental. This probably won't apply in a terminal illness situation, but worth knowing.

To answer your follow-up question: Yes, if she claims survivor benefits early (either at 50 as a disabled widow or at 60 as a non-disabled widow), the reduction is permanent. Unlike retirement benefits, survivor benefits do not automatically increase to 100% when she reaches her full retirement age. Regarding the benefit amount - she would receive a percentage of what he's getting now, based on when she claims. At her full retirement age, that would be 100% of his current SSDI benefit. If she claims earlier, it would be a reduced percentage. One other option they might consider - if they get married and he lives at least 9 months, but she doesn't qualify for disabled widow benefits, she could apply for spousal benefits at age 62 (reduced) while he's still alive. Then after he passes, she could switch to survivor benefits, which are generally higher than spousal benefits.