Clarification please re: Social Security death benefits remaining spouse

[Luvdogs]

If the higher earning spouse passes first, does the spouse receive the deceased person's social security amount instead of their own?

A friend's husband passed and he had started receiving SS at full retirement age but his wife started receiving it at age 62. She spoke to SS and was told that she would not receive his amount because she retired before full retirement age.

It was pretty surprising to her as they did not have a lot of extra income to begin with.

So does his wife continue to receive the same amount that she always had-- or perhaps a percentage of her husband's amount because she started SS before full retirement age?
Thank you.

 

[MissMolly]

The rules are different for survivor benefit then they are when claiming your own. And you age when claiming your benefit has absolutely no bearing on what happens when you claim survivor.

In a nutshell - how much you get for survivor benefit depends on your age when you claim the survivor benefit. You can claim as early as age 60, but it will be a reduced amount. That reduction will be less for each you wait until you reach your full retirement age. Once you reach full retirement age you will receive 100% of the deceased spouse's benefit.

You can read about it here: Social Security Survivor Benefits

 

[Sunset]

If the higher earning spouse passes first, does the spouse receive the deceased person's social security amount instead of their own?

A friend's husband passed and he had started receiving SS at full retirement age but his wife started receiving it at age 62. She spoke to SS and was told that she would not receive his amount because she retired before full retirement age.

It was pretty surprising to her as they did not have a lot of extra income to begin with.

So does his wife continue to receive the same amount that she always had-- or perhaps a percentage of her husband's amount because she started SS before full retirement age?
Thank you.

How old is the wife ?

 

[2018]

The rules are different for survivor benefit then they are when claiming your own. And you age when claiming your benefit has absolutely no bearing on what happens when you claim survivor.

In a nutshell - how much you get for survivor benefit depends on your age when you claim the survivor benefit. You can claim as early as age 60, but it will be a reduced amount. That reduction will be less for each you wait until you reach your full retirement age. Once you reach full retirement age you will receive 100% of the deceased spouse's benefit.

You can read about it here: Social Security Survivor Benefits

One point to clarify here ... the spouse can receive "spousal benefits" as early as 62 if the primary SS recipient is already drawing. SS site has the calculator in their online tool. Then they can draw the "survivor" benefit based on the parameters outline by MissMolly. I actually called the SS admin office to verify. NOTE: If the primary SS person dies before the "suriviving spouse" reaches FRT then SS admin will automatically convert from "spousal" to "survivor" rate unless the spouse asked for a deferment. Once this happens it's difficult to change back per SS support staff.