A widow(er) is eligible to receive benefits if she or he is at least age 60. If a widow(er) remarries before age 60, she or he forfeits the benefit and, therefore, faces a marriage penalty. Under current law, there is no penalty if the remarriage occurs at 60 years of age or later.
Instead of the retired worker's benefit ending when he died, his widow could collect a survivor benefit for her lifetime. Since then, the eligibility rules for survivors have improved. The age requirements are lower, surviving ex-spouses are eligible, including surviving spouses and partners of same-sex relationships.
For a spouse who is not entitled to benefits on his or her own earnings record, this reduction factor is applied to the base spousal benefit, which is 50 percent of the worker's primary insurance amount.
Be at least age 60. Be divorced from the deceased worker. Have been married to the deceased worker for at least 10 years. Not be entitled to an equal or higher Social Security benefit on your own work record.
This is good news when former spouses are not on good terms. Your ex cannot “block” you from drawing your spousal benefit. In fact, he probably won't even know if you are drawing off him unless he calls SSA to ask.
While spousal benefits are capped at 50 percent of the worker's benefit, survivor benefits are set at a full 100 percent of the deceased worker's benefit.
No, you can't collect two benefits at the same time
As of June 2023, about 67 million Americans receive a social security benefit each month. Of those, 5.8 million are survivors of deceased workers, accounting for 11.5% of the payments. But don't count on receiving a double payment if your spouse passes before you.
He or she can still collect benefits on the deceased spouse's work record. However, if you are eligible for your own retirement benefit, you won't get both payments; Social Security will pay the higher of the two benefit amounts.
Each survivor benefit can be up to 100% of your benefit. The amount may be reduced if the women start benefits before their own full retirement age, but they don't have to share — the amount isn't reduced because you've had more than one spouse.
If you qualify for your own retirement benefit and a spouse's benefit, we always pay your own benefit first. You cannot receive spouse's benefits unless your spouse is receiving his or her retirement benefits (except for divorced spouses).
In simple terms, the widow's penalty refers to a situation where a surviving spouse may experience a reduction in their overall income or financial benefits, but an increase in taxes, after their partner passes away.
Widow or widower, at full retirement age or older, generally gets 100% of the worker's basic benefit amount. Widow or widower, age 60 or older, but under full retirement age, gets between 71% and 99% of the worker's basic benefit amount.
family gets all the benefits they're entitled to.
—If they were living apart from the deceased and eligible for certain Social Security benefits on the deceased's record. —If there's no surviving spouse, a child who's eligible for benefits on the deceased's record in the month of death can receive this payment.
The full retirement age is 66 if you were born from 1943 to 1954. The full retirement age increases gradually if you were born from 1955 to 1960 until it reaches 67. For anyone born 1960 or later, full retirement benefits are payable at age 67.
A surviving spouse, surviving divorced spouse, unmarried child, or dependent parent may be eligible for monthly survivor benefits based on the deceased worker's earnings. In addition, a one-time lump sum death payment of $255 can be made to a qualifying spouse or child if they meet certain requirements.
A widow(er) is eligible to receive benefits if she or he is at least age 60. If a widow(er) remarries before age 60, she or he forfeits the benefit and, therefore, faces a marriage penalty. Under current law, there is no penalty if the remarriage occurs at 60 years of age or later.
What Happens If I Remarry? Generally, you cannot collect benefits on your ex-spouse's work record unless your second marriage ends by annulment, divorce, or death. Your SSI benefits payments may change based on your new spouse's record.
If you've worked and paid Social Security taxes for 10 years or more, you'll get a monthly benefit based on that work.
The Social Security disability five-year rule allows people to skip a required waiting period for receiving disability benefits if they had previously received disability benefits, stopped collecting those benefits and then became unable to work again within five years.
The qualifying widow(er) standard deduction is the same as married filing jointly. Although there are no additional tax breaks for widows, using the qualifying widow status means your standard deduction will be double the single status amount.
A widow or widower with one or more qualifying children may be able to use the Qualifying Widow(er) filing status, which is available for two years following the year of the spouse's death.