Spousal benefits are Social Security payments for a living spouse (up to 50% of the worker's benefit), while widow/survivor benefits are paid to a surviving spouse after the worker dies (up to 100% of the worker's benefit). Spousal benefits require a 1-year marriage, whereas survivor benefits require a 9-month marriage.
The SSS provides two main types of death benefits:
To qualify for Social Security spousal benefits, you must generally be at least 62 (or any age if caring for a young/disabled child), married for at least one year, and your spouse must already be collecting their own retirement or disability benefits; divorced spouses have slightly different rules, needing a 10-year marriage and no remarriage before age 60 (or 50 if disabled). You'll receive the higher of your own benefit or the spousal benefit (up to 50% of the worker's full benefit), and claiming early (before full retirement age) may reduce the amount.
You may be eligible if you: Are age 60 or older, or age 50–59 if you have a disability, and. Were married for at least 9 months before your spouse's death, and. Didn't remarry before age 60 (age 50 if you have a disability).
If you are entitled to a Bereavement Payment, it will be paid as a lump sum. You may be able to get Widowed Parent's Allowance or Bereavement Allowance as well as a Bereavement Payment.
A widow's benefit is generally calculated on the benefit your late spouse was receiving from Social Security at the time of death. The AARP says that the actual amount of your payment will differ according to the following factors. If you have reached full retirement age, you may receive 100% of the benefit.
Widowed parent's allowance
The amount you'll be entitled to will depend on your spouse or civil partner's National Insurance record. In 2025/26, the maximum amount you can receive mirrors the maximum bereavement allowance of £150.90 a week.
Spousal benefits are based on a living spouse or ex-spouse's work history. Survivor benefits are based on a deceased spouse or ex-spouse's work history. There are some significant differences in the amount, timing, and eligibility of these benefits.
The Social Security spousal benefits loophole, primarily the "File and Suspend" and "Restricted Application" strategies, allowed a higher-earning spouse to delay their own benefits (earning delayed retirement credits) while the lower-earning spouse collected a spousal benefit based on the higher earner's record; however, a 2015 law closed these loopholes for most new applicants, meaning if one spouse claims spousal benefits, their own benefits are also considered claimed, and benefits can't be suspended to let spousal benefits accrue. A separate, less-known exception allows a spouse caring for a disabled adult child (under 22) to receive benefits even if they haven't reached retirement age, as noted by Special Needs Answers.
People are only eligible for a spousal benefit when their own benefit is less than half of their retired spouse's benefit, or when they seek to delay their own application for Social Security benefits based on their own work record.
The biggest recent change is the Social Security Fairness Act (SSFA) of 2023, effective January 2024, which eliminated the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO), meaning your spouse's or survivor's benefits won't be reduced by your non-Social Security government pension anymore, making it much fairer. Also, the "file and suspend" strategy for spousal benefits ended for most, but the core rules remain: you get the higher of your own or your spousal benefit (up to 50% of your partner's), and you can generally switch from spousal to your own higher retirement benefit at full retirement age.
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.
In most cases, a widow or widower qualifies for survivor benefits if he or she is at least 60 and was married to the deceased for at least nine months at the time of death.
No, not everyone gets the $255 Social Security death benefit; it's a limited, one-time payment for a surviving spouse or eligible child when the deceased worked and paid Social Security taxes, requiring specific eligibility and application within two years, with priority to a spouse living with or receiving benefits on the deceased's record, then to children.
The extra $144 added to Social Security usually comes from the Medicare Part B Giveback benefit, offered by some Medicare Advantage (Part C) plans, which pays back some or all your Part B premium, showing up as extra money in your check if it's deducted from your Social Security. To qualify, you need Original Medicare (Parts A & B), pay your own Part B premium, live in a plan's service area, and enroll in a specific Medicare Advantage plan that offers this "rebate," with the amount varying by plan and location.
A widow generally receives Social Security survivor benefits for life, continuing as long as she lives, unless she remarries before age 60 (or 50 if disabled), in which case benefits stop during the marriage but can restart if the new marriage ends. Benefits can start as early as age 60 (or 50 if disabled) and increase with age, reaching the full amount at the survivor's full retirement age, which can be between 66 and 67 depending on birth year.
As noted above, if you have reached full retirement age for survivors, you get 100 percent of the benefit your spouse was (or would have been) collecting. If you claim survivor benefits between the age of 60 and your full retirement age, you will receive between 71.5 percent and 99 percent of the deceased's benefit.
Following the death of a worker beneficiary or other insured worker,1 Social Security makes a lump-sum death benefit payment of $255 to the eligible surviving spouse or, if there is no spouse, to eligible surviving dependent children.
You could get a monthly payment based on the work history of the family member who died. You might also get Medicare based on their work history if you're 65 or older, or you have a disability or end-stage renal disease (ESRD).
The bereavement support payment has replaced the widow's pension, here's how much it pays and who is eligible. 1 of 8: What is a widow's pension? If you are worried about how you would pay your bills after your partner dies, you may find some reassurance in bereavement support.