Another important thing to understand about survivor benefits: unlike retirement benefits where the reduction for claiming early is permanent, with survivor benefits the reduction percentage depends on YOUR full retirement age, not your deceased spouse's. For someone with an FRA of 67, claiming at 60 means you'll receive about 71.5% of what you would receive if you waited until your FRA. This reduction doesn't affect your ability to receive COLA increases - you'll still get the full percentage increase each year.

There's an important distinction to clarify: When calculating survivor benefits, the benefit amount starts with what your deceased spouse was receiving or would have received. However, the reduction for claiming early is based on YOUR age when you claim, not your deceased spouse's age when they claimed or would have claimed. And yes, all Social Security beneficiaries receive the same COLA percentage regardless of benefit type or claiming age. For 2024, the COLA was 3.2%, and as another commenter mentioned, 2025 is projected to be around 2.5% based on current inflation data.

wait do u have to tell ur ex spouse ur applying for their benefits? cause mine would be furious if he found out i was getting money from his record lol

Update: I finally got through to Social Security! The agent confirmed I am eligible for ex-spouse benefits and it will increase my monthly payment by about $370! They're processing my application now. They said I'll only get 6 months of back payments though, which is disappointing considering I could have been receiving this higher amount for nearly 20 years. Still, I'm grateful for the increase going forward. Thanks to everyone for your help and advice!

wait the WEP and GPO are gone now???? since when??? i've been getting reduced SS benefits for 6yrs because of my teacher pension!

Can I ask what your benefit increase looks like with the WEP/GPO gone? My husband and I are both former federal employees with pensions and our SS benefits were basically nothing before. Trying to figure out if it's worth the hassle of reapplying.

Has your wife worked enough quarters to qualify for her OWN benefit? If she's getting spousal benefits, that's a whole OTHER situation!!! The rules are COMPLETELY different and more complicated. My friend thought she understood everything and ended up losing THOUSANDS because she didn't understand the spousal benefit rules!!!

To summarize what others have said: 1) At FRA, you can earn unlimited income without affecting your SS benefit amount 2) Additional income may increase your Medicare premiums via IRMAA 3) Additional income may increase the taxation of your SS benefits 4) IRMAA is based on your tax return from 2 years prior (with exceptions for life-changing events) Beyond the financial implications, many retirees find part-time work beneficial for mental stimulation, social connection, and purpose. Just structure your income carefully with tax planning in mind.

its back up!!! just logged in finally

For future reference, the SSA system status page at https://www.ssa.gov/systemstatus/ sometimes provides information during outages (though ironically, this page can also go down during major outages). Another option is to check their social media accounts as they sometimes post updates about technical issues there faster than they update their website. Glad to hear it's working again for everyone!

One thing no one has mentioned: while you can continue receiving the CIC benefits, there's something called "deemed filing" that changed with the 2015 law changes. In some cases, this can affect your options. However, this primarily impacts spousal benefits rather than child-in-care benefits. My recommendation: about 3 months before your 62nd birthday, schedule an appointment with your local SSA office (not just a phone call) and ask them to do a detailed benefit calculation and explanation of your options. Get it in writing if possible. This way, you'll know exactly where you stand.

I just remembered something else - if your disabled son gets SSI or SSDI himself, that's separate from your benefits! Don't get those confused when your talking to SS people. My nephew gets SSDI payments AND his mom was getting the parent benefits too. Totally different things!

ugh this is all so confusing why cant the government make this simple??? i swear they want us to mess up so they can pay less

Thank you everyone for the helpful responses! I feel much more confident now about my plan to take survivor benefits at 64 and then switch to my own retirement benefit at 70. Just to summarize what I've learned from all of you: 1) The two benefits are calculated independently 2) Taking survivor benefits early will reduce THOSE benefits, but not my future retirement benefit 3) I need to be very clear when applying that I'm ONLY applying for survivor benefits 4) I should contact the SSA about 3 months before I want to switch to my own benefit 5) If the phones are impossible, there are services that can help get through This forum has been so much more helpful than the official information! Thanks again.

SSA only looks at GROSS earnings, regardless of tax withholding. Increasing your tax withholding won't help with the earnings test. The only way to stay under the limit is to actually earn less gross income during the year.

I forgot to mention something important!! My friend told me she just stopped reporting her income to Social Security and they never caught on. Maybe you could try that??? jk don't do that lol

my brother in law started his SS at 67 and kept working part time as a consulant making good $$$. he says its the best of both worlds. no probs with SS at all.

To answer your follow-up question about taxation of benefits: Social Security benefits become taxable when your "combined income" exceeds certain thresholds. Combined income is your adjusted gross income + nontaxable interest + half of your Social Security benefits. For 2025, taxation starts when this combined income exceeds $25,000 (single) or $32,000 (married filing jointly). At that point, up to 50% of benefits may be taxable. When combined income exceeds $34,000 (single) or $44,000 (married), up to 85% of benefits may be taxable. With your $35,000 consulting income plus benefits, you'll likely have some portion of your benefits subject to income tax. I'd recommend consulting with a tax professional for your specific situation.

One more important point I want to clarify: The survivor benefit is based on what your husband would have received at the time of his death, including any delayed retirement credits. Since he passed at 69 (3 years after his FRA), his benefit would include approximately 24% in delayed retirement credits (8% per year for 3 years). To calculate: If the SSA is telling you the amount at his FRA would be $2,975, then with delayed retirement credits, your survivor benefit should be approximately $3,689 (2,975 × 1.24). The difference is over $700 per month - or more than $8,400 per year - for the rest of your life. This is absolutely worth pursuing. When you go back, ask specifically for a Technical Expert and use these precise terms: "I need a calculation of my survivor benefit that includes my deceased husband's delayed retirement credits from age 66 to 69."

Based on everyone's advice, here's what I recommend you do: 1. Make an appointment with your local SSA office (don't just walk in) 2. Ask specifically for a Technical Expert who specializes in survivor benefits 3. Bring your husband's death certificate, his Social Security statement if you have it, and your marriage certificate 4. Use this specific language: "I need a recalculation of my survivor benefits that includes the delayed retirement credits my husband earned between his FRA at 66 and his death at 69" 5. Request a written explanation of the calculation they provide If you continue to face resistance, you have the right to file for a reconsideration or even appeal the decision. But hopefully, speaking with the right specialist will resolve this without further steps.