Social Security survivor benefits questions - FRA widow with no application update after 45+ days

I'm sorry for your loss. Regarding your questions: 1) Processing times are definitely taking longer right now - 45-90 days is unfortunately common for survivor benefits. The backlog is significant. 2) Since you're at FRA, you qualify for 100% of your wife's benefit amount. You won't receive a reduced amount as long as you've reached your full retirement age (which you have). 3) Your previous marriage won't affect your entitlement to survivor benefits from your wife of 20 years. They probably asked as part of their standard verification process, and potentially because you might have been eligible for divorced spouse benefits from that marriage too (if it lasted 10+ years). 4) Yes, they will reclaim the payment made after her death. When benefits are processed, you'll receive any back payments owed to you from the month after she passed away, plus the $255 death benefit. Hope this helps. The waiting is definitely the hardest part.

When my husband died last year it took almost 75 days to get my survivors benefits. SS is really backed up right now! And yes they take back the last payment... they did it suddenly with no notice and it caused me an overdraft fee!!!! Make sure you keep enough $ in your account

My mom waited almost 3 months for survivors benefits after my dad passed in August. They're super slow right now. And yes you'll get 100% of her benefit since your at FRA. Good luck!

Just to clarify a few technical points about survivor benefits: 1. As a widow at FRA, you're entitled to 100% of your deceased wife's Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) or what she was receiving at death, whichever is higher. 2. The benefit actually begins the month of death if the death occurs any day except the last day of the month. Since your wife passed on November 12th, you're entitled to a survivor benefit for November (though it will be adjusted if she already received her November payment). 3. Regarding your previous marriage, this has no impact on survivor benefits from your most recent marriage. However, if your ex-spouse's benefit amount is somehow higher than your deceased wife's, you could potentially claim on that record instead - though this is relatively rare. 4. The $255 death benefit will be included with your first payment. 5. Regarding reclamation of payments - yes, they will take back her final payment if she wasn't entitled to it. This usually happens through the financial institution without notice. The processing delays are unfortunately very common right now. Make sure you keep detailed records of all communications with SSA during this time.

Try using Claimyr to get through to a live agent faster at SSA. I was on hold for HOURS trying to check on my survivors claim last month, then found this service at claimyr.com that got me connected to an agent in about 15 minutes. Saved me so much frustration! There's a video showing how it works here: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU When I finally talked to someone, they told me my claim was just sitting there waiting to be assigned to a processor. After I called, it seemed to move things along and I got my approval letter about a week later.

they pay retroactive from the month after death not the month OF death that other person is wrong

@original poster YES they pay retroactive back to when you applied. My mom got a nice lump sum when they FINALLY processed her claim. Hang in there!!!!

The whole system is BROKEN!!! My father-in-law waited 97 days - that's more than 3 MONTHS - to get his survivor benefits after my mother-in-law passed. And SSA took back her final payment without ANY warning causing multiple bill payments to bounce. Then they had the nerve to tell him he should have been "prepared" for this! How exactly are seniors supposed to prepare when SSA gives ZERO information about timelines or procedures? It's absolutely disgraceful how our government treats older Americans.

I had a similar waiting period after my husband died last March. It took about 10 weeks to get everything processed. They did eventually backpay to the appropriate month, but the waiting was really stressful. One thing that helped me was going to my local SSA office in person rather than just calling. I know that's not possible for everyone, but if you can do it, sometimes face-to-face gets better results than phone calls.

You need an appointment. Their website lets you schedule it. But when I went they were taking walk-ins too if you got there early, but the wait was pretty long.

Regarding your question about notification before they reclaim the payment - no, they typically don't provide advance notice. The Treasury Department electronically withdraws the funds directly from the financial institution. This is why it's important to keep sufficient funds in the account to avoid overdraft fees. Also, I wanted to clarify about the month of death benefits since there's some confusion in the comments. The rule is: - Social Security benefits are paid in the month following the month they're due for - A person must live through the entire month to be entitled to that month's payment - Since your wife passed in November, the November payment she received was her October benefit - This payment is proper and won't be reclaimed - However, since she didn't live through all of November, she wasn't entitled to a November benefit (which would have been paid in December) As a survivor, your benefits would typically start with December (paid in January). But since there's a processing delay, you'll eventually receive back payments for all months they owe you.