Confused about Social Security survivor benefits - what happens to my $1760 or husband's $2400 when one of us dies?
I started receiving my Social Security retirement benefits in January at age 63. My monthly payment is $1760. My husband is 68 and gets $2400 a month from Social Security. We've been trying to do some estate planning and I realized I don't understand how survivor benefits work. If my husband passes away before me, would I be eligible to receive his higher benefit amount instead of mine? And if I die first, would he get anything from my benefits? We've been married for 32 years if that matters. Neither of us had previous marriages. I've tried reading the SSA website but got confused with all the different rules and provisions. Thanks for any help explaining this!
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Ravi Sharma
Yes, if your husband passes away, you would be eligible to receive his full benefit amount of $2400 as a survivor benefit instead of your current $1760. The SSA pays the higher of the two amounts, not both combined. However, when you claim survivor benefits matters - if you claim before your Full Retirement Age (which is probably 66 and some months for you), your survivor benefit would be reduced. If you pass away first, your husband wouldn't receive anything additional because he's already receiving more than your benefit amount. Survivors only receive the higher of the two benefit amounts.
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Isabella Santos
•Thank you for explaining! So if I understand correctly, I would get his $2400 instead of my $1760 if he dies first. Do I need to apply for this or does SSA automatically switch me over? And since I'm already collecting my retirement benefits, does that mean I've already taken the reduction for claiming early, or would there be another reduction if I had to claim survivor benefits?
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Freya Larsen
My dad died last year and mom got his SS check instead of hers cause it was bigger. She had to go to the SSA office with his death certificate though, they dont just automatically do it. Took her like 2 months to get everything switched over.
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Isabella Santos
•I'm sorry about your dad. Thanks for sharing what happened with your mom - that's helpful to know that I would need to bring documentation. Did she have to make an appointment or could she just show up at the office?
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Omar Hassan
To clarify an important point: the early claiming reduction for retirement benefits is completely separate from the reduction for survivor benefits. They have different reduction rates and different Full Retirement Ages. If your husband passes away, you'd need to apply for survivor benefits - it's not automatic. You would bring his death certificate to SSA. You'd receive the higher of: 1. Your own reduced retirement benefit ($1760) 2. A percentage of your husband's benefit (up to the full $2400) depending on your age when you claim the survivor benefit If you're already at your Full Retirement Age for survivor benefits when he passes, you'd get the full $2400. If not, it would be reduced (but still likely higher than your current benefit). For your husband, if you pass first, he would indeed get nothing additional since his benefit is already higher.
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Isabella Santos
•That makes more sense now. So there's a separate Full Retirement Age for survivor benefits? I didn't know that. Is there a way to find out what my FRA is for survivor benefits? And is there any advantage to waiting until after my FRA to claim survivor benefits, like there is with regular retirement benefits?
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Chloe Taylor
My wife gets $1550 and I get $2200 and our financial advisor told us the same thing about survivor benefits. But he said something about a one-time death benefit of $255 too.
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Ravi Sharma
•You're absolutely right about the one-time death benefit! When a Social Security beneficiary passes away, SSA pays a lump-sum death payment of $255 to the surviving spouse if they were living in the same household. If there's no surviving spouse, it can go to a child who's eligible for benefits on the deceased's record. It's not much, but it's something that's often overlooked.
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ShadowHunter
When my husband passed in 2023, I had SUCH a hard time getting through to Social Security to report his death and apply for survivor benefits. I called for weeks and couldn't get a human on the phone. The wait times were ridiculous - I was on hold for over 2 hours once before getting disconnected! I finally used this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me connected to a real SSA agent in under 30 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU. Saved me so much frustration during an already difficult time. Just wanted to share since reporting a death to SSA is time-sensitive.
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Diego Ramirez
•Is that service legit?? I tried calling SS last week about my disability review and gave up after being on hold for an hour. Never heard of this Claimyr thing before.
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ShadowHunter
Yes, it's completely legitimate. They don't access any of your personal information - they just connect you to SSA faster. I was skeptical too, but it worked exactly as advertised. My neighbor used it for her retirement application questions too.
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Freya Larsen
•I tried calling SSA for my mom last month after my dad died and it was IMPOSSIBLE!!! Going to try this next time she needs help. Thx for sharing
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Omar Hassan
To answer your questions from earlier: 1. For survivor benefits, Full Retirement Age depends on your birth year. If you were born between 1945-1956, it's 66. If born 1957-1961, it's between 66+2months and 66+10months. If born 1962 or later, it's 67. 2. Yes, there can be advantages to waiting until your survivor FRA. If you claim survivor benefits before your FRA for survivors, they're reduced by approximately 0.396% per month early (4.75% per year). This is different from the retirement benefit reduction rate. 3. If you're already receiving retirement benefits when your spouse dies, you have the option to switch to survivor benefits if they're higher. The SSA will not automatically switch you. In your specific case, even with a reduction, the survivor benefit would likely still be higher than your current $1760. When the time comes (hopefully not for many years), you should contact SSA to determine the exact amount.
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Isabella Santos
•Thank you so much for the detailed information! I was born in 1960, so it sounds like my FRA for survivor benefits would be 66 and 8 months. This has been really helpful. I'll make sure to contact SSA directly if/when the time comes to apply for survivor benefits.
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Anastasia Sokolov
This is all WRONG! My sister got BOTH her benefit AND her husbands when he died last year!!!! The SSA is keeping secrets from us about what we're really entitled to!!!! Don't trust what they tell you!!!!!
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Ravi Sharma
•I'm sorry, but that's not accurate. SSA rules are very clear that a surviving spouse receives the higher of the two benefit amounts, not both combined. There are some specific situations where someone might receive additional benefits (like if they're caring for dependent children), but no one receives both their full retirement benefit plus their spouse's full benefit. Your sister may be receiving other types of benefits, or perhaps there was a dependent benefit involved, but the standard rule is that survivors receive the higher of the two amounts, not both.
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Chloe Taylor
my mom just went thru this. dad died in december. she had to go to the office with the death certificate. took like 3 months for everything to get sorted but she gets his benefit now instead of hers. she said they were really nice actually but the wait was long.
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Diego Ramirez
Don't forget that if your husband passes away, you might need to return his last Social Security payment depending on when he dies! My father passed on June 29 and they made us return his June payment because he didn't live the entire month. So frustrating dealing with all that while grieving.
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Omar Hassan
•That's an important point about Social Security payments. SSA pays benefits in the month following the month for which they are due. So the payment received in June is actually for May's benefits. However, if someone dies, the payment received in the month of death (covering the previous month) is kept. But they're not entitled to a payment for the month in which they died if they don't survive the entire month. So if someone passes away on June 29th, the family keeps the June payment (for May's benefits), but there won't be a July payment (which would have been for June's benefits). This can create confusion during an already difficult time, so it's good to be aware of this policy.
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Isabella Santos
Thank you all so much for your responses! This has been incredibly helpful. It's a relief to know I would be able to get my husband's higher benefit amount if he passes before me, though of course I hope that's many years away. I'm going to make a note of all this information and the steps I would need to take. And I'll also look into that Claimyr service just in case - I know from experience how difficult it can be to reach someone at SSA. I appreciate everyone taking the time to explain things so clearly!
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