Will Social Security COLA apply to restricted survivor benefits when filing at FRA after husband died 27 years ago?

Yes, survivor benefits DO receive COLA adjustments over time, even if your husband passed away many years ago. The SSA calculates what your husband's benefit would be today if he were still alive, including all the COLA increases that have occurred since his passing. So the benefit amount has definitely not been frozen at 1990s levels. If you're at FRA, you can absolutely file a restricted application for survivor benefits only. This is one of the few restricted applications still allowed. You can then collect 100% of your survivor benefit while letting your own retirement benefit grow with delayed retirement credits until age 70, which will increase your own benefit by 8% per year. This is often a very smart strategy if your own benefit at 70 will be higher than your survivor benefit.

My mom did the exact same thing! Her hubby (my dad) died when she was 45, and she got survivor benefits at her FRA and then switched to her own at 70. It worked out GREAT for her because her own benefit ended up being like $600 more per month than the survivor one. Definitely worth looking into!!!

This is a very smart strategy you're considering. Here's some technical background: When someone dies, SSA calculates a Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) based on their earnings record. This PIA receives all COLA adjustments that occur between the death and when benefits are claimed. Additionally, if your husband died before reaching his FRA, the benefit amount includes any projection of what he would have earned had he lived to his FRA. Since you're at your FRA, you're entitled to 100% of his PIA as adjusted for all COLAs since his death. Then at 70, you can switch to your own retirement benefit which will have grown by 32% due to delayed retirement credits (8% per year from your FRA to 70). This is one of the few remaining claiming strategies that allows you to restrict your application to only one benefit type. Good planning!

I went through something similar when I reached FRA and let me tell you, GETTING THROUGH to Social Security to set this up was almost impossible! I tried calling for 3 weeks straight and got disconnected every time or waited for hours only to be told I needed to call back. Incredibly frustrating. I finally found this service called Claimyr that got me through to a Social Security agent in about 20 minutes! Saved me weeks of frustration. You can see how it works at claimyr.com or watch their demo at https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU Once I actually got through to someone, they were helpful in setting up my restricted survivor benefit. And yes, all those COLAs over the years were included.

BTW they definitely update the amounts! My dad died in 1991 and my moms survivor benefit in 2018 was WAY more than what his SS was back then. All those cost of living increases really add up over the decades!!

I DON'T MEAN TO SCARE YOU but be SUPER careful about how you word things when you apply!!! I tried doing this exact same thing last year and the SSA rep COMPLETELY misunderstood what I was asking for and filed me for BOTH benefits which TOTALLY messed up my strategy!!! It took me 4 MONTHS to get it fixed and I had to go through a formal appeal process because they said I couldn't withdraw my application after a certain number of days!!!! MAKE SURE you specifically say you want to FILE A RESTRICTED APPLICATION FOR SURVIVOR BENEFITS ONLY and that you want to DELAY YOUR RETIREMENT BENEFIT until age 70. Get the rep's name and ID number too just in case!!!

To answer your follow-up question - the switch at age 70 is NOT automatic. About 3-4 months before you turn 70, you'll need to contact SSA to apply for your retirement benefits. Mark this on your calendar because SSA won't notify you that you need to make this change. When you do file at 70, your survivor benefits will automatically terminate as SSA will pay you the higher benefit amount (which should be your age 70 retirement benefit if you've planned correctly).

wait i'm confused about something... if her husband died 27 years ago wouldn't that mean he didn't have many working years? don't you need like 35 years of work for a good ss benefit? would this even be worth it?

Just wondering but r u still working? Cuz that could affect survivor benefits before FRA but I think once your at FRA there's no earnings limit anymore? Someone correct me if I'm wrong about that!!

so sorry for ur loss