The current law requires that the widow be unmarried in order to claim widow benefits, unless the marriage occurred after the widow attained age 60. That is, a widow who remarries before age 60 has no claim to the widow benefits (so long as the remarriage remains intact) and therefore faces a marriage penalty.
How Remarriage Affects Survivors' Benefits. You can't receive survivor's benefits if you remarry before 60. If you remarry after age 60 (50 if disabled), you can still collect benefits on your former spouse's record.
If you remarry after age 60, you can still receive survivor benefits based on your former spouse's record. However, if your new spouse is also collecting Social Security benefits and you would receive a higher amount based on the new spouse's work record, you will receive the higher amount.
Your spouse will receive the SBP annuity for life unless they remarry prior to age 55. Remarriage prior to age 55 will suspend the annuity. However, if that remarriage ends, your spouse may re-apply to the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) to reinstate the annuity.
If you remarry before age 60, you cannot receive a survivor benefit. If you remarry after age 60, you will still be eligible for the survivor benefit. The annual earnings limitation of $21,240 for 2023 applies if you have not reached your full retirement age.
If you have since remarried, you can't collect benefits on your former spouse's record unless your later marriage ended by annulment, divorce, or death. Also, if you're entitled to benefits on your own record, your benefit amount must be less than you would receive based on your ex-spouse's work.
Usually, you can't get widow's or widower's benefits if you remarry before age 60 (or age 50 if you have a disability). But remarriage after age 60 (or age 50 if you have a disability) won't prevent you from getting benefit payments based on your former spouse's work.
If you get Social Security disability or retirement benefits and you marry, your benefit will stay the same. However, other benefits such as SSI, Survivors, Divorced Spouses, and Child's benefits may be affected.
There are disadvantages and advantages to taking survivors benefits before full retirement age. The advantage is that the survivor collects benefits for a longer period of time. The disadvantage is that the survivors benefit may be reduced.
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.
If you remarry between the ages of 50 and 59 — you can't get benefits. Note: If you remarry before you turn 60 and that marriage ends, you may become entitled or re-entitled to benefits on your prior deceased spouse's earnings record.
If you re-married and your second spouse is deceased, you qualify to claim benefits from either your first spouse if that marriage lasted at least 10 years, or your second spouse if you were married at least 9 months before they died.
How Long Do You Receive Social Security Survivor Benefits? Social Security survivor benefits are payable to the surviving spouse for the remainder of their life. Restrictions apply for divorced spouses eligible to receive benefits.
For example, if you were to get married for a second time without a will, trust, nor prenuptial agreement, your second wife would be entitled to 50% of your community property earned during your second marriage, while your children from your first marriage would also be entitled to 50% after your death.
However, when it comes to remarrying after the death of a spouse, there is no set timeline or acceptable wait time.
We base your survivors benefit amount on the earnings of the person who died. The more they paid into Social Security, the higher your benefits would be.
Benefits stop when your child reaches age 18 unless that child is a student or has a disability.
If you're under full retirement age your benefit amount could be reduced, based on what you earn. For 2022, the Social Security Administration reduces survivor benefits by $1 for every $2 you earn above $19,560. In the year you reach full retirement age, the deduction changes to $1 for every $3 earned above $51,960.
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.
In 2023, this maximum benefit is $914 a month. However, if two beneficiaries are married to each other, they are considered an eligible couple and don't get their own separate benefits. The government applies a couple's rate of $1,371 a month — 1.5 times the individual benefit.
Marriage and Medicare
Your marital status doesn't affect your coverage, so you don't gain or lose coverage by getting married or divorced. (The only thing it really does affect is whether or not you pay a premium for Medicare Part A and how much you pay for your Medicare Part B premium, but we'll get to that later.)
Impact of remarrying: If you remarry before age 60 (or 50 if disabled), you typically won't be eligible to collect survivor benefits from your former spouse.
In 2023, if you're under your full retirement age, the annual earnings limit is $21,240. In some cases, one spouse of a married couple delays claiming to produce a larger survivor benefit for the last remaining spouse.
You may experience a range of different emotions—grief, anger, hurt, jealousy, acceptance, longing—that come and go in waves as your mind grapples with the news.