Sounds like a solid plan. One more tip: when you log in to your mySocialSecurity account, look for the \

One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is that you should also consider the impact of healthcare costs during those gap years from 60-67. Without employer insurance, you'll need to factor in the cost of private health insurance or ACA marketplace plans until you're eligible for Medicare at 65. For some people, those healthcare costs can eat into any potential Social Security benefit gains from working longer. It's another piece of the puzzle when weighing early retirement vs. continuing to work. Make sure to get quotes for individual health insurance in your area as part of your decision-making process!

One final consideration: Double-check when your FRA actually is for survivor benefits. For retirement benefits, FRA for someone born in 1962 is 67. But for survivor benefits, the FRA can be different - it could be 66 and 10 months. This small difference matters for planning purposes if you want to completely avoid the earnings test.

I'm so sorry for your loss, Sofia. Losing a spouse at such a young age is heartbreaking, and navigating all these complex benefit rules while grieving just adds to the burden. Your strategy sounds solid based on what others have shared. I wanted to add one thing that might help with the SSA communication frustration - if you have a local SSA office, sometimes scheduling an in-person appointment can be more productive than trying to get through on the phone. You can use their online appointment system at ssa.gov, and having face-to-face time with someone who can pull up your records and walk through scenarios might give you more confidence in your planning. Also, since you mentioned your wife had about 25 years of SS-covered employment before switching to teaching, her benefit calculation should be pretty straightforward without WEP complications on her record. That's good news for your survivor benefit amount. Take care of yourself through this process - it's a lot to figure out, but you're asking all the right questions.

One other important thing to know - you need to be unmarried when you apply for ex-spouse benefits. If you remarry, you generally can't collect on a former spouse's record unless your later marriage ends by death, divorce, or annulment. Also, claiming on your ex's record has no effect on what they receive. Some people worry about this, but your ex will never even know you've applied for benefits on their record.

Just wanted to add something that hasn't been mentioned yet - if you're eligible for benefits on multiple ex-spouses' records (if you had other marriages that lasted 10+ years), Social Security will automatically pay you the highest amount. You don't have to choose between them. Also, there's a little-known rule that if your ex-spouse dies, you may be eligible for survivor benefits instead of spousal benefits, which could be up to 100% of what they were receiving (compared to the 50% maximum for spousal benefits). Just something to keep in mind for future planning. The whole system is definitely confusing, but it sounds like you're in a good position with your 12-year marriage and your ex already collecting!

Just wanted to add another perspective - I'm a financial advisor and see these situations occasionally with clients. Beyond what others have mentioned, this could also be a State-administered supplement that gets processed through SSA. Some states have supplemental payment programs for Social Security recipients, and when someone dies, any unpaid amounts can be forwarded to next of kin. The 6-month delay often happens because these payments have to go through multiple agencies for processing and verification. Definitely get that written explanation from SSA as Ravi suggested - you'll want it for tax purposes too, since depending on what type of payment it is, it might be reportable income for your husband.

I went through something very similar when my grandmother passed last year. We received an unexpected check for $620 about 4 months after her death. It turned out to be a combination of her final month's benefit payment plus a small retroactive adjustment for a COLA increase that hadn't been properly applied to her account. What helped us was bringing the uncashed check directly to our local SSA office along with her death certificate and my dad's ID (as next of kin). They were able to pull up her payment history immediately and show us exactly what the payment represented. The staff there was much more helpful than trying to navigate the phone system. One thing I learned is that SSA has up to 2 years to make these kinds of posthumous adjustments, so the 6-month delay isn't necessarily unusual. They often discover calculation errors or missed payments during their routine account reviews after someone dies. Just make sure you keep good records of everything in case you need them for taxes next year!

You probably have already answered this, but I was married to my ex-husband for 35 years. We divorced, didn't marry anyone else, and then remarried each other again 3 years later. I was 57 when we remarried. When he dies, will I be able to claim widow's benefits on him as a second marriage even though we remarried before I was 60?

As a newcomer to this community, I wanted to thank everyone for this incredibly informative discussion! I'm currently going through my own Social Security planning and this thread has been more helpful than hours of trying to navigate the SSA website. What I find particularly valuable is seeing both the community knowledge and the official confirmation from SSA that Malik received. It really demonstrates how this forum can provide practical guidance while emphasizing the importance of getting official verification for individual situations. Isabella's detailed explanations about how marriage periods are evaluated separately were especially enlightening - I had no idea that each marriage to the same person could be considered independently for the 10-year rule. And Freya's real-world experience with almost the exact same situation provides such reassuring confirmation. For anyone else reading this thread later, it seems the key takeaways are: 1) Each marriage period stands on its own for the duration requirement, 2) You'll need all marriage certificates and divorce decrees when applying, and 3) Don't give up on getting through to SSA even if it takes multiple attempts. Thanks again to everyone who shared their knowledge and experiences!