To each his own, but I'll offer a different viewpoint.
I had a small fixed pension coming of less than $500/month. When I early ER'd, the earliest start date of the pension was well off in the future. But in the meantime, inflation was reducing its real value year by year. When I reached the minimum age to take it, I took it single, no survivor benefits. Survivor benefits would really cut into it. If I went with a survivor benefit, with its corresponding reduction, then looked at inflation's effect on what was left of it over the coming years, it made one wonder, why bother having a pension at all?
So to maximize the current dollars out of it, DW filled out the forms to swear off of her interest in it. And now every month the single person amount goes into a checking account for the use of both of us. At least we will get some $ out of it before inflation reduces it to pocket change. If I kick off after writing this post, and the payments therefore stop, oh well. But I think it more likely that inflation is the killer in my case.
When the (fixed) pension dollar amounts are lower, I think that inflation's effect should be factored into the decision, along with the pensioner's health, of whether to go single or joint-survivor.