Social Security survivor benefits - will I get full amount if I claimed early but my spouse waited until FRA?

I'm so sorry for your loss. This is actually a common question with survivor benefits. The good news is that your decision to take your own retirement benefits early does NOT affect the amount of survivor benefits you can receive. However, if you take survivor benefits before YOUR full retirement age, then those survivor benefits will be reduced. Since you're 64 now and your FRA is probably around 66-67 (depending on birth year), if you switch to survivor benefits now, you WILL see a reduction from the $2,650. You'll get approximately 81-91% of his benefit amount depending on exactly how many months before your FRA you are. If you can wait until your own FRA to claim the survivor benefit, you would get 100% of what he was receiving.

my condolences on your husbands passing. similar situation happened with my mom last year. she took her ss at 63 but dad waited till 70!!! the ssa office told her she could switch to his higher benefit but it would be reduced some bc she's not at her full retirement yet. think they said something like 4.8% reduction for each yr before FRA?

I went through this exact mess last year when my Bernie passed. The SSA phone people told me THREE different things!!! So frustrating! I finally got to an actual office (took WEEKS to get an appointment) and they explained that if I was at my full retirement age, I'd get 100% of his benefit. If I took it before FRA, they reduce it. Has NOTHING to do with whether YOU took your own benefits early. That only affects YOUR retirement amount not the survivor amount. If your own benefit is smaller than the survivor benefit (even with reduction), switch now. If your own benefit is bigger than the reduced survivor, wait till your FRA to switch. Hope this helps and sorry for your loss.

The previous advice is spot on. I just want to add that you should definitely make an appointment with your local SSA office to discuss this in person. Bring your husband's death certificate, your marriage certificate, both your Social Security cards, and his most recent Social Security statement if you have it. When my wife passed, I found having all the documents ready made the process smoother. One thing to consider: if you wait until your FRA to claim survivor benefits, you'll get approximately $33,000 more over the next 2.5 years ($2,650 vs. your current $1,400 = $1,250 difference × 30 months). That's significant money that might be worth waiting for if you can manage financially right now.

Ugh don't even get me started on how confusing these survivor rules are!!!! I'm in almost identical situation (I'm 63, took SS at 62, husband waited till 67 but passed 3 months ago). The SSA website is NO help, kept sending me in circles. AND I TRIED CALLING 40+ TIMES over 2 weeks and either got disconnected or was on hold for hours!!! Complete nightmare when you're already dealing with grief. Finally my neighbor told me about this service called Claimyr that got me through to a SSA agent in under 20 minutes! You can see how it works at https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU - they basically navigate the phone system for you. I was skeptical but it actually worked and I finally got answers about my survivor benefits situation. The agent confirmed I could switch to reduced survivor benefits now or wait till my FRA for full amount. Saved me weeks of frustration!

Just to clarify some technically accurate information about survivor benefits: 1. If you claim survivor benefits before your FRA, they are reduced by approximately 0.396% per month before your FRA (roughly 4.75% per year). 2. At age 64, you'd be facing approximately a 12-15% reduction from the full survivor benefit amount. 3. The reduction is permanent - it doesn't increase when you reach FRA. 4. The fact that you claimed your own benefit early only affects your own retirement benefit, not your survivor benefit. 5. You have the option to switch between your own benefit and the survivor benefit at any time to receive whichever is higher. Based on the numbers you provided ($1,400 own benefit vs potential $2,650 survivor benefit), even with a 15% reduction, the survivor benefit would be around $2,250, which is significantly higher than your current benefit. I recommend calculating exactly how many months until your FRA and doing the math to see the exact reduction you'd face now versus waiting.

Let me throw a curve ball here - have you considered that taxes might impact this decision? If you're still working or have other income, getting a higher SS benefit might push you into higher tax brackets or cause more of your SS to be taxed. Sometimes it's not just about the gross benefit amount but what you actually keep after taxes.

Based on all the information shared, here's what I would recommend in your situation: 1. Apply for the reduced survivor benefit now since it's significantly higher than your own benefit, even with the reduction 2. Bring all documentation to your appointment: marriage certificate, death certificate, both SSNs, birth certificates if possible 3. Ask the SSA representative to calculate the exact reduction percentage based on your months until FRA 4. Get the calculation in writing so you can verify the amount is correct when payments begin 5. Remember that it will take 1-2 months for the survivor benefits to begin after application The math makes it clear - waiting until FRA would mean forgoing approximately $913 per month for 32 months, which totals about $29,200 in benefits you'd never receive. Even with the permanent reduction, you'd need to live about 11 years past your FRA just to break even on the 'waiting' strategy.