Can I get my husband's higher Social Security survivor benefits if I took early retirement at 62?

Yes, you would be entitled to survivor benefits based on your husband's record, and the fact that you took your own benefits early doesn't affect your survivor benefits. When a spouse passes away, the surviving spouse can receive the higher of either their own benefit or their deceased spouse's benefit (but not both). Since your husband's benefit is significantly higher, you would receive an amount equal to his current benefit. The early retirement reduction that applies to your own benefit won't carry over to your survivor benefit.

When my wife passed last year, I was in the same boat - took mine early at 62. SSA gave me her full benefit amount with no penalty. Just had to provide death certificate and fill out some paperwork at my local office. Make sure to contact them within 30 days when the time comes (though hopefully not for many years!). I found a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that helped me actually reach an agent to ask questions - their video demo at https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU shows how it works. Saved me hours of busy signals and hanging on hold.

This is a common misunderstanding! The early retirement penalty ONLY applies to your own benefit, not to survivor benefits. The Social Security Administration treats these as two completely different benefits with different rules. Your early filing doesn't follow you to survivor benefits. However, there's an important detail: if your husband were to pass away, you should immediately contact SSA to switch to survivor benefits. Don't delay reporting the death because retroactive payments are limited. Also, be aware that if your husband is delaying retirement credits by continuing to work, his benefit amount might increase, which would mean a higher survivor benefit for you if he passes away.

@casual_commenter To answer your question - you need to be married for at least 9 months to qualify for widow(er) benefits, with some exceptions like accidental death. Since you've been married 8 years, you easily meet this requirement.

I'm learning so much from all of you! I've been stressing about this for months. So just to be clear - when the time comes (hopefully many years from now), I would contact SSA right away, and they would simply switch me to getting his higher amount instead of my reduced amount? No complicated math or reductions?

OK NOBODY IS TELLING THE WHOLE TRUTH HERE!! I went through this exact thing and SSA does NOT automatically give you the higher amount!! You have to SPECIFICALLY ASK for the survivor benefit or they just keep paying your own benefit. My sister-in-law never knew to ask and missed out on almost $30,000 before someone told her!!!!!

Something else worth knowing - if your husband continues working, his benefit amount might still increase slightly each year due to additional earnings being factored into his benefit calculation. This could potentially increase your future survivor benefit as well. Also, don't forget that when a spouse passes, there is a one-time death payment of $255 that you can claim, though it's a small amount compared to the monthly benefits.

my mom went thru this last year and she said the funeral home helped her apply for the death benefit thing. but she had to go to ssa office herself for the monthly benefits. took her 3 visits cuz she kept forgetting paperwork they needed

Wait I'm confused. If he's still working at 78 doesn't that mean he delayed taking SS past his full retirement age? If so wouldn't he be getting more than if he took it at regular retirement age? And does THAT affect what you'd get as a survivor?