Can I claim survivor benefits at 63 if my spouse died when they were 50? Did I lose years of SS payments?

Yes, you can absolutely claim survivor benefits as early as age 60 (age 50 if disabled). Since you haven't remarried before age 60, you're still eligible. Unfortunately, you may have missed out on potential benefits you could have received between age 60-63, depending on your own work record and benefit amount. At your age now (almost 63), you'd get approximately 81.2% of your husband's full benefit. If you wait until your FRA (probably 66 and some months for you), you'd get 100%. I'd recommend you contact SSA immediately to apply and see what options you have. They may be able to provide some retroactive benefits, though typically this is limited to 6 months for survivor benefits.

The EXACT same thing happened to my neighbor!!! She lost out on like FOUR YEARS of survivor benefits because nobody told her she could claim at 60!!! The system is COMPLETELY RIGGED against us - they NEVER tell people about these benefits because they dont want to pay!!! My neighbor tried to get backpay but SSA just said "too bad so sad" basically. The whole system is BROKEN.

I'm sorry you're in this situation. To clarify some important points: 1. Yes, you can claim survivor benefits now at 63 if you haven't remarried before age 60 2. You would receive about 81.2% of your husband's full benefit amount at your current age 3. The maximum retroactive benefits available is 6 months, so you can't recover the full 3 years 4. IMPORTANT: If your own retirement benefit will be higher than the survivor benefit, you have a great strategy available - claim survivors now and switch to your own retirement later (or vice versa) This is called a restricted application strategy. You could take the reduced survivor benefit now, then switch to your own retirement benefit at 70 when it reaches its maximum value. I recommend getting a benefit calculation for both benefits before deciding.

sorry about ur husband. i think u can get the money but maybe not all of it? my mom had something similar, she got like 6 months backpay i think. dont wait to apply tho!!! the longer u wait the more u lose

When I was going through this after my wife died, I couldn't get anyone on the phone at Social Security for THREE WEEKS. I kept calling and calling. Then I found this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me connected to a real SSA agent in about 20 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU. Worth every penny when you're trying to sort out survivor benefits. The agent I spoke with actually helped me understand my options much better than the website did.

My wife died when I was 58 and I waited until 67 to claim survivor benefits because I wanted the maximum amount. In your situation, I think you need to decide based on your own work record. Here's what you should consider: 1. What will your own retirement benefit be at your Full Retirement Age? 2. How does that compare to the survivor benefit (100% of your husband's FRA benefit)? 3. Do you need the income now or can you wait? If your own benefit will be higher than the survivor benefit, then you might want to take the survivor benefit now and switch to your own at 70. If the survivor benefit will be permanently higher, then waiting until your FRA to claim the survivor benefit might be best. And yes, unfortunately, you can only get up to 6 months of retroactive benefits, so anything before that is lost.

One more important point - when you go to apply, make sure you specifically tell them you may want to file a "restricted application" for survivor benefits only. This preserves your right to switch to your own retirement benefit later if it would be higher. If you don't specify this, they sometimes just automatically give you whichever benefit is higher at the time you apply, which could cost you thousands in the long run if your own benefit would grow to be larger at 70.

I just remembered - my cousin had major problems trying to apply for survivor benefits online. The website kept glitching and then they processed her application wrong!!! She ended up having to go in person after waiting online for like 3 months!! If I were you I would just try to talk to a real person right away and not mess with their horrible website!!!

Thank you everyone for the helpful information! I've scheduled an appointment with my local SSA office for next week, and I've made notes about asking for the "restricted application" option. I'm still upset about potentially losing 3 years of benefits, but at least I can make better choices going forward. I'll update after my appointment to let you know how it goes and what they tell me about my options.