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Can Social Security survivors benefits increase after FRA if I wait until 70 to claim?

I'm currently 62 and lost my husband last year. I'm trying to figure out the best strategy for claiming survivors benefits. I know my own retirement benefits increase if I wait until 70, but I'm confused about survivors benefits. Do survivor's benefits also grow if I wait past my full retirement age (66 and 10 months) to claim them? Or do they max out at my FRA? My financial advisor says one thing but the SSA rep I spoke with seemed to say something different. Has anyone dealt with this specific situation?

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15 comments

Mei Lin

•13d

Survivor benefits do NOT grow after your FRA. Unlike your own retirement benefits which increase 8% per year until 70, survivor benefits reach their maximum at your full retirement age. So there's absolutely no advantage to waiting past your FRA to claim survivor benefits. The confusion probably comes because these are two different benefits with different rules. Your own retirement benefits have delayed retirement credits until 70, but survivor benefits don't. If your husband's benefit amount is higher than your own retirement benefit would be, you might want to consider taking survivors at FRA and then switching to your own at 70 (assuming your own benefit with delayed credits would then be higher).

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GalacticGuru

•13d

You have options here. Since you're 62, you could: 1. Take reduced survivor benefits now (about 71.5% of the full amount) and let your own retirement grow until 70. 2. Take reduced retirement benefits now and switch to full survivor benefits at your FRA. The best choice depends on which benefit will ultimately be higher. If your own benefit at 70 would be significantly higher than the survivor benefit, option 1 might be better. Have you checked your estimated benefit amounts on the MySocialSecurity portal?

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Amara Nnamani

•13d

This is correct advice. Just to add a key detail - survivor benefits reach their maximum at YOUR full retirement age, regardless of your husband's age when he passed. And if your husband already took reduced benefits before his FRA, your survivor benefit maximum would be limited by the RIB-LIM rule (basically you'd get what he was receiving or 82.5% of his PIA, whichever is higher). One strategy many widows don't know about: If you worked enough to qualify for your own retirement, taking REDUCED survivor benefits at 62 while letting your own benefit grow until 70 can be very advantageous if your own benefit would be substantial.

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Dylan Cooper

•13d

I had the EXACT same question when my husband passed. Spent WEEKS trying to get someone at Social Security on the phone who could give me a straight answer. Always disconnected after waiting for hours. Finally I used this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me connected to an SSA agent in about 15 minutes. The agent confirmed survivor benefits max out at FRA - waiting longer doesn't increase them. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU The strategy they recommended was taking reduced survivor benefits at 62 and switching to my own retirement at 70, since my own benefit would be higher by then.