Will remarriage affect my survivor benefits if my new husband dies? SS benefit calculations confused

You're in luck - remarriage after age 60 doesn't affect your current survivor benefits at all. You'll continue to receive your $2,200/month regardless of your new marriage. If your new husband passes away in the future, you could potentially receive survivor benefits based on his record, but you'd get the higher of the two amounts, not both. So in your case, if his survivor benefit would be around 100% of his current $3,100 (depending on when he claimed his own retirement benefits), you'd likely switch to that higher amount.

my sister went thru this same thing got remarried at 66 and was worried about the same stuff but she kept getting her dead husbands ss and then when her new hubby died she got his instead cause it was more money but you can only get 1 not both good luck with your new marriage!!

You've received some good information, but let me clarify a few technical details: 1. Since you remarry after 60, you can continue receiving your current survivor benefits. 2. If your new husband passes away, the survivor benefit would be based on his Primary Insurance Amount (PIA), not necessarily his exact payment amount. If he claimed benefits before his FRA, your survivor benefit might actually be higher than what he was receiving due to something called the Retirement Insurance Benefit Limit (RIB-LIM). 3. The reduction for claiming your first survivor benefit early (at 64) does NOT carry over to potential survivor benefits from your new husband. Those would be calculated fresh based on your age when he passes. 4. You would receive the higher of the two survivor benefits, not both. I recommend scheduling an appointment with SSA before remarrying to get personalized advice for your specific situation.

Trying to reach SSA to ask questions like this is IMPOSSIBLE these days! I spent THREE DAYS trying to get through on the phone last month about my own survivor benefits question. Kept getting disconnected or waiting for hours. I finally used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me connected to an agent in under 20 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU Worth it to get actual answers from SSA about your specific situation.

WHY is the Social Security system so COMPLICATED?? I swear they make these rules confusing ON PURPOSE so people don't get all their benefits!! My mom was in a similar situation and the SSA gave her wrong info THREE TIMES until she found someone who knew what they were talking about!

Quick additional note on your question about the early claiming: When you claimed survivor benefits at 64, you took a reduction from your full benefit amount. If your new husband passes away, the survivor benefit calculation from his record would be based on your age at THAT time. So if you're past your FRA when he passes away, you would get the full survivor benefit from his record (assuming it's higher than your current one).

I went through something similar last year. Remarried at 68 after being on survivor benefits for years. The SSA representative told me that each survivor benefit is calculated separately, and they'll pay you whichever one is higher. In my case, I'm still getting my first husband's benefit because it was higher than what I'd get from my second husband who passed away recently. Make sure you bring your marriage certificate when you report the marriage to SSA - they required that documentation.