Social Security survivor benefits question - will my wife receive both her SS and mine if I die after we both reach FRA?

No, she won't get both benefits in full. When you pass away, your wife can receive the higher of either her own benefit or your benefit as a survivor, but not both added together. Since your benefit is higher ($2,750 vs her $1,850), she would receive your full benefit amount as a survivor benefit instead of her own. So essentially she would get a "raise" from her benefit to yours, but not both combined. The length of marriage (30 years) definitely qualifies her - the minimum is 9 months in most cases.

My father in law passed last year and my mother in law is only getting his SS now. She had to actually go to the office and switch from hers to his cause his was more. They don't let you double dip unfortunately!

Just to add some important technical details: When a spouse dies, the surviving spouse is entitled to a survivor benefit of up to 100% of the deceased spouse's primary insurance amount (PIA) or actual benefit amount (if they had already started receiving benefits). However, Social Security only pays the higher of the two benefits - either your own retirement benefit OR the survivor benefit, not both combined. In your specific situation, assuming you both wait until FRA to claim your benefits, your wife would receive approximately $2,750/month after your passing (your benefit amount) instead of her $1,850. This represents about a $900 monthly increase, but not a combination of both benefits. One planning consideration: Since survivor benefits are available as early as age 60 (though reduced if claimed before FRA), the timing of when each of you claims your own benefits can significantly impact survivor benefits later. If you were to delay your benefits past FRA up to age 70, your wife's eventual survivor benefit would be even higher.

Everyone here is right abt not getting both! BUT make sure when the time comes ur wife APPLIES for survivor benefits!! SSA doesnt automatically switch her over!!! My mom missed out on 3 months of higher payments cause nobody told her she had to apply for survivors after dad died. They dont backpay far either!!!

When my husband passed away I had to bring his death certificate to the Social Security office and fill out paperwork. They stopped my payment and started giving me his instead since it was higher. The 30 year marriage doesn't really matter for this situation - I think that's more for divorced spouse benefits which is different.

I spent HOURS on the phone trying to reach SSA when my wife passed to sort out similar benefits questions. After being disconnected twice and waiting on hold for over 3 hours, I found a service called Claimyr that got me connected to an agent in less than 10 minutes. Saved me so much frustration! You can see how it works at https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU or just go to claimyr.com. Might be helpful when either of you needs to make changes to benefits or if you have more complicated questions that need an actual agent.

I'm in a similar situation and have been researching this extensively. I think there's a HUGE miss in your planning that nobody has mentioned!!!! If your benefit is substantially higher (which it is), you might want to consider having your wife claim HER benefit at FRA, but YOU delay yours until 70!!! That would increase your benefit by 8% per year from your FRA to 70, making it around $3,600/month instead of $2,750. Then when you pass away (hopefully many years later), your wife would get that HIGHER amount as her survivor benefit. This maximizes your household income while both alive AND gives her the highest possible survivor benefit!!

SSA rules are confusing!!! My aunt thought she would get both benefits too but ended up with just the higher one. Something about "dual entitlement" that the rep explained but I don't really understand all the details.

Thank you everyone for all the helpful information! I'm going to look into that strategy of delaying my benefits until 70 to maximize what my wife would get as a survivor. I had no idea about these rules, and I'm glad I asked before we made our claiming decisions.