Since you're turning 63 and plan to wait until 67 (your FRA), here are the key points to consider: 1. The Government Pension Offset (GPO) will likely apply since your husband's pension comes from a state government job that didn't pay into Social Security. 2. The GPO reduction is 2/3 of your gross pension amount, so approximately $1,433 will be deducted from your survivor benefit. 3. Your earnings won't affect your survivor benefits once you reach FRA (67), but they would reduce benefits if you claimed earlier. 4. To make an informed decision, you need to know what your survivor benefit amount would be before the GPO reduction. This amount is based on what your husband would receive if he were alive at your FRA. 5. Request a detailed calculation from SSA showing both your survivor benefit amount and the GPO reduction. This will help you determine if you'll receive any benefit after the reduction. The optimal claiming strategy depends on these numbers. If the GPO would eliminate most or all of your survivor benefit, it might make sense to claim earlier and accept the earnings reduction.

Sending hugs. Its so hard dealing with all this paperwork when youre grieving.

My wife and I went thru this last year. What a headache! We ended up estimating too high and got less subsidy than we shoulda. Make sure you ONLY count the SS income that's taxable for marketplace (which isnt the same as taxable for IRS). I think theres a worksheet on healthcare.gov somewhere.

One last important point: For Marketplace insurance income calculations, you need to report your Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI), which may include some non-taxable Social Security benefits depending on your other income. The Marketplace uses a specific calculation for Social Security benefits that differs from normal tax rules. If your income is below certain thresholds, you may not need to count all of your Social Security benefits toward your Marketplace MAGI. I recommend using the Marketplace's income calculator tool on healthcare.gov to get the most accurate estimate for your specific situation.

Thank you all for the helpful responses! I now understand that my husband won't get any additional amount since his benefit is already more than half of mine. I appreciate the clarification about survivor benefits too - that's something we hadn't considered in our planning. I'm going to talk with him about whether it might make sense for him to delay claiming even past his FRA since his benefit would continue to grow. Does anyone know if the spousal benefit calculations change if he waits until 70?

my sister in law was in this same boat. her husbands check was like $700 less than hers and he didnt get any extra. but then when she needed to go on medicare it took a bigger chunk out of her check cause she was in a higher income bracket. so theres other stuff to think about too with the higher benefit sometimes.

My mother in law got TOTALLY screwed by SS on this exact thing!!! She retired in March and started benefits in April but did some part time work in October. They counted ALL her income for the year and reduced her benefits AND made her pay back money!!! The system is rigged against us seniors!!!!

btw when does ur husband reach full retirement age? cuz the earnings limit goes way up in the year he reaches FRA and then goes away completely the month he hits FRA

Great question. If you're approved for ex-spousal benefits when applying for retirement, any additional amount would start from your entitlement date - usually the month after you apply for benefits. However, if you're already receiving your own retirement benefits and later apply for ex-spousal benefits, SSA can provide up to 6 months of retroactive benefits (but not going back further than your full retirement age).In the original poster's case, since she's applying for both at roughly the same time at age 70, the benefits would start together from her application date with no significant retroactive payment likely.

Thanks! That makes sense. I've been on disability for years but I'm approaching retirement age so trying to figure out how all this works.