Applying for Social Security with terminal illness - how will survivor benefits be calculated?

I'm so sorry about your brother-in-law's diagnosis. For survivor benefits, the calculation is a bit complex, but here's the important part: If your brother-in-law applies for early retirement now at 63, and then passes away, your sister's survivor benefit would be based on his reduced benefit amount, NOT his full retirement age amount. However, there's a special provision called the "widow(er)'s limit" that might help. This limit means she could receive up to the greater of: 1) what your brother-in-law was receiving, or 2) 82.5% of his full retirement age benefit. Also important: her age when she applies for survivor benefits matters. If she takes survivor benefits before her own full retirement age, they'll be reduced based on her age at application. And no, it doesn't matter how long he received benefits before passing.

my mom went thru this when my dad got cancer. get him signed up for benefits asap!!! the SSA is SO SLOW sometimes and u want to make sure he gets approved while he can still sign papers and stuff. they made my dad come in for an interview even tho he was sick :

Sorry to hear about your brother-in-law. When my husband got sick, we applied for what's called a "compassionate allowance" for SSDI, not retirement. It's for terminal conditions. Might be worth looking into as another option.

The advice about survivor benefits above is mostly correct, but there's a critical detail missing. There's what's called a 3-month or 6-month death windfall in certain Social Security rules that affects survivor calculations if someone dies very shortly after filing. Basically, if your brother-in-law files for reduced benefits and dies within months, the SSA has special provisions that might help your sister get a higher survivor benefit than would normally be calculated. Also, she should look into whether she can maximize by taking one benefit type first and switching later. Coordinating retirement and survivor benefits can increase lifetime benefits substantially.

I went through this EXACT situation last year when my husband was diagnosed with terminal cancer. We struggled for WEEKS trying to reach Social Security. The hold times were 2+ hours and we got disconnected repeatedly. I finally found a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me connected to an agent in under 10 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU. It was honestly a lifesaver during such a stressful time. The SSA agent was able to schedule us for an immediate appointment and explained all our options for his benefits and my future survivor benefits.

@profile6 Yes, it worked perfectly for us. My husband was too sick to sit on hold for hours, and with everything else we were dealing with, waiting on the phone all day just wasn't possible. After getting connected through Claimyr, the agent scheduled a phone appointment where we could do most of the application, which saved us from having to go into the office.

Don't forget to ask about the lump sum death benefit too - it's only $255 but it's something. And make sure your sister knows that she needs to report his death to SSA when it happens - they don't automatically know.

There are some important strategic considerations here: 1. If your brother-in-law hasn't worked in the past few years due to illness, applying now might actually be better than waiting, even without the terminal diagnosis. The reason is that benefit calculations use the highest 35 years of earnings, and additional years of zero income can sometimes lower the benefit amount. 2. The Retirement Insurance Benefit (RIB) LIM provision is what determines the widow's benefit in this case. If your brother-in-law claims early and then passes away, your sister's survivor benefit would be limited to the greater of: what he was receiving OR 82.5% of his Primary Insurance Amount (PIA). 3. Regarding timing: If he files for benefits and passes away very quickly, within the first month of entitlement, SSA may process the claim as if he hadn't filed at all, which could benefit your sister if she'd get a higher survivor benefit based on his unfiled status. 4. Your sister should talk to an SSA representative about a restricted application strategy when the time comes. At her age, she could potentially take reduced retirement on her own record at 62 and then switch to unreduced survivor benefits at her FRA.

My husband passed last year and I was SHOCKED at how much lower my survivor benefit was than I expected. Don't assume anything and get everything in writing!!!!

Doesn't matter actually if he applies now or not! survivor benefits are the same either way! someone told me this at my husband's funeral

Thank you all for your thoughtful responses. This is more complicated than I realized, but I now have a much better understanding of how the survivor benefits work. My sister and I will help my brother-in-law contact Social Security this week to discuss their specific situation and get accurate benefit estimates. It sounds like there are advantages and disadvantages to filing now versus not filing, and we need to understand those tradeoffs based on their specific benefit amounts. We'll also look into that service for connecting with SSA more quickly. I really appreciate everyone sharing their experiences and knowledge during this difficult time.