Social Security spousal vs. survivor benefits - will I get more than $750 after 10-year marriage mark?

when my husband died i got his check instead of mine because it was higher. u dont get both. thats just how it works

You'll want to understand the difference between spousal benefits and survivor benefits. For spousal benefits (while your husband is alive), you can receive up to 50% of his Primary Insurance Amount if that's higher than your own benefit. But for survivor benefits (after he passes), you can receive up to 100% of what he was receiving if that amount is higher than your own benefit. So if your own benefit will be $750 and his is $750, there's no advantage to spousal benefits. But if he passes away, and his benefit increased over time with cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs), you might receive slightly more as a survivor benefit. Also, the 10-year marriage requirement is only for divorced spouse benefits - if you're still married when he passes, there's only a 9-month marriage requirement for survivor benefits.

The 10-year rule is ONLY for divorced spouses!!!! If you're still married when he passes, you only need to have been married 9 MONTHS to qualify for widow benefits! Don't stay in a bad marriage just for Social Security if you don't have to!!!

There's another factor to consider that might help you. If your husband passes away, as his widow you could claim survivor benefits as early as age 60 (or age 50 if disabled). Then you could switch to your own retirement benefits at age 70 if they would be higher after delayed retirement credits. This strategy can sometimes maximize what you receive over your lifetime. As others mentioned, the 10-year marriage duration is only required for divorced spouse benefits. For survivor benefits when a spouse passes away, you only need to have been married for 9 months in most cases. Also remember that survivor benefits are reduced if taken before your full retirement age, which would be 67 for someone who is 59 now.

my mom went thru this she got dads check after he died which was like $200 more than hers would have been but she had to go to the office and prove they were married and show his death certificate and everything it was a whole ordeal took like 3 months to get it all sorted

The SSA phone lines are impossible to get through!! I tried calling about a similar situation last month and was on hold for 3+ hours before getting disconnected. Finally I used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me connected to a real person at SSA in under 5 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU Not trying to advertise but it saved me so much frustration! I was able to get all my survivor benefit questions answered in one call.

ssA rules are so confusing!!! i think youre smart to stay married til the 10yr mark just to be safe. thats what my sister did. better to have options later than regret it. good luck!!

One more thing to consider - if your husband's benefit increases due to delayed retirement credits (if he claimed before his full retirement age) or cost-of-living adjustments over the years, then his eventual benefit might be considerably higher than $750. So while there might not be an immediate difference now, the survivor benefit could be more valuable in the future. For example, with annual COLA adjustments averaging around 2-3%, his $750 benefit could be closer to $900 in 10 years. That would mean an extra $150/month for you as a survivor compared to your own benefit.

does anyone know if they check if ur actually living together for these benefits? asking for a friend lol