Does my wife get my current SS benefit amount or just my FRA amount when I die?
I finally started collecting my Social Security retirement last year at age 70 after delaying past my full retirement age of 67. My original FRA monthly benefit would have been around $3,250, but because I waited plus got COLA increases, I'm now receiving about $4,500 monthly. My wife (she's 64) and I were discussing survivor planning yesterday, and we realized we have completely different understandings of what she'd receive if I passed away. I thought she'd get my current higher amount, but she insists her financial advisor told her she'd only get my original FRA amount. This is a pretty significant difference of over $1,200 monthly! Can someone clarify which amount she would actually receive as a survivor benefit? Does she get my boosted current payment or just what my FRA amount would have been?
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Sophia Nguyen
Your wife would receive your current benefit amount as her survivor benefit, not the FRA amount. When you die, she's entitled to receive either her own benefit or your benefit at the time of death, whichever is higher. Since you delayed claiming and received delayed retirement credits plus COLAs, she would receive that higher amount. The only reduction would be if she claims survivor benefits before her own full retirement age. Hope that helps clear things up.
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Liam Mendez
•Thank you! That's a huge relief. I was worried we had been making retirement plans based on incorrect numbers. So if she's only 64 now (her FRA is 67), would she get a reduced amount if I passed before she reached her FRA?
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Jacob Smithson
my mom just went thru this last year when dad died. she gets his FULL amount that he was getting before he died. the funeral home actually helped her file for it right after he passed! but she was already past her retirement age so didn't get any reduction.
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Isabella Brown
•So sorry about your dad. Did your mom have to wait long to start receiving the survivor benefits? I've heard horror stories about people waiting months with no income after filing.
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Jacob Smithson
•thx. it took about 6 weeks i think? not too bad but she had some savings to cover bills until then
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Maya Patel
The financial advisor is WRONG. This is why I don't trust most of them with Social Security questions - they often don't understand the nuances of the system. As a surviving spouse, your wife is entitled to the HIGHER of: 1. Your benefit amount at the time of your death (including delayed retirement credits and COLAs) 2. Her own retirement benefit BUT - and this is important - if she claims survivor benefits before her own Full Retirement Age, they will be reduced. The reduction is about 0.396% per month before her FRA. So if she claimed immediately at 64, she'd get roughly 85.6% of your current benefit. I recommend she schedule an appointment with SSA directly to discuss her options. The difference could be thousands of dollars annually.
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Liam Mendez
•Thanks for the detailed explanation. I'll definitely let her know to contact SSA directly. Do they typically give this kind of personalized guidance over the phone, or does she need to visit an office?
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Maya Patel
•For survivor benefit planning, I strongly recommend an in-person appointment at your local field office. They can run calculations specific to your situation and review all options. Phone support is hit or miss - you might get someone knowledgeable or someone reading from a script.
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Aiden Rodríguez
My husband died 2 years ago and I got his full amount, not the FRA amount. But the real issue was GETTING THROUGH to SSA to file the claim!! I tried calling for 3 weeks straight, either got disconnected or was on hold for 2+ hours before giving up. Ended up having to take a day off work to go to the office and wait 3 hours.
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Emma Garcia
•I had the same horrible experience trying to reach them about my disability application. After dozens of failed calls, I used this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me through to an agent in under 20 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU - totally worth it when you need to actually speak to someone at SSA without wasting entire days on hold.
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Aiden Rodríguez
•Wish I'd known about that back then! Saved for future reference because I'm sure I'll need to deal with them again eventually.
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Ava Kim
Everyone keeps saying she gets your full current amount, but there's actually another factor: if she's working and under her FRA, earnings limit would reduce her survivor benefits. In 2025, she'll lose $1 in benefits for every $2 she earns above $23,340 (approximate amount based on current trends). Has anyone discussed the earnings test with her?
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Liam Mendez
•That's a great point I hadn't considered. She still works part-time making about $32,000 annually. So I guess that would reduce her survivor benefit until she reaches her FRA?
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Ava Kim
•Yes, it would. If she earns $32,000, that's $8,660 above the limit, which means reducing benefits by $4,330 annually or about $360 monthly. After she reaches FRA, the reduction stops and SSA recalculates to gradually give back some of those withheld benefits.
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Isabella Brown
IM SO CONFUSED!!! I thought survivor benefits were ALWAYS 100% of what the deceased spouse was getting?? My sister just got widowed and she's only getting like 82% of what her husband got each month. They NEVER told her about any reductions!! Is SSA cheating her??
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Sophia Nguyen
•They're not cheating her. If she claimed survivor benefits before her own full retirement age, they would be reduced. The reduction can be as much as 28.5% if claimed at the earliest possible age (60). How old was your sister when she applied?
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Isabella Brown
•OH! She was 63 when he died last year. So maybe that's why? No one ever explained it to her that way!
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Jacob Smithson
btw make sure ur wife applies for the one-time death benefit too, its only $255 but better than nothing lol
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Liam Mendez
•I had no idea about that. Every bit helps! Do you know if that's automatic or something she needs to specifically request?
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Jacob Smithson
•she has to ask for it specifically, they dont just give it to you automatically
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Maya Patel
One other thing to consider - if your wife is still working or plans to work past age 67 (her FRA), she might want to think strategically about claiming. She could potentially take reduced survivor benefits now and switch to her own retirement benefit later if her own benefit would be higher by then (especially if she has high career earnings). Or alternatively, take her own reduced retirement benefit now and switch to the survivor benefit at her FRA. Which option is best depends on the difference between her benefit amount and your benefit amount. This is why personalized planning is so important with survivor benefits.
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Liam Mendez
•That's really helpful - I hadn't realized she could potentially switch between benefits. Her career earnings were modest compared to mine, so I suspect the survivor benefit will always be higher than her own. Still, definitely worth exploring all options.
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