If Your Spouse Dies, Can You Get Social Security Benefits?
Social Security survivors benefits are gender-neutral, and widows and widowers alike can receive benefits if qualifications are met. Qualifications include sufficient work history by the deceased spouse as well as age, disability or childcare for the surviving spouse. The surviving spouse must remain unmarried until after age 60 to be entitled to survivors benefits. Marriage after age 60 does not affect survivors benefits.
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Work History Qualification by the Deceased Worker
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Social Security pays benefits to those who pay into the system, and retirement is the best known of the Social Security programs. Survivors benefits and disability are other areas that pay benefits if qualifications are met. If your spouse dies, you may be entitled to survivors benefits that work like a life insurance annuity, paying each month for as long as you qualify. First, the deceased worker must qualify. Qualifications include a work history of 10 years or 40 quarters of employment in a position that paid into the Social Security system. Social Security allows alternate qualifications, including six credits or one and a half years of work history in the last three years of life.
Age Qualification by the Surviving Spouse
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The surviving spouse must also qualify for benefits. A minor child can qualify for survivors benefits from the deceased parent and can continue to collect benefits until age 19 if in secondary school. A spouse may qualify at any age, if caring for a child of the deceased under 16 who qualifies for survivors benefits. A spouse not caring for a child can qualify for survivors benefits as early as age 60, or age 50 if disabled. Age is important in determining whether the survivor can collect survivors benefits--your age or the child's age.
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Advantage of Age for the Surviving Spouse
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The surviving spouse can collect benefits as early as age 60, but calculations are for reduced benefits. The spouse can receive 71.5 percent of the full retirement age benefits of the deceased spouse at age 60. The percentage increases as the surviving spouse reaches full retirement age. For those born between 1943 and 1954, full retirement age is 66.
A spouse collecting survivors benefits based on child rearing receives 75 percent of the deceased's full retirement age benefits. Age is not a factor.
A working spouse may be subject to penalties if income is over $14,160 in 2010, and federal income taxes may be owed on Social Security income.
Work History of the Surviving Spouse
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Each person who works and pays into the Social Security system may collect on his own work history as early as age 62. If you have sufficient quarters and work history to qualify for Social Security retirement benefits on your own work history, you may change over at age 62, if your benefits are higher. You may collect benefits for the two years between age 60 and 62 on the deceased's work history, then apply for your own retirement benefits. If your survivors benefits are higher than your retirement benefits, Social Security pays the higher amount.
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References
- Social Security Online: Publication 05-10077--What You Need to Know When You Get Retirement or Survivors Benefits
- Office of Retirement and Disability Policy: Widows and Social Security
- Social Security Online: If You Are the Worker's Widow or Widower
- Social Security Online: How Much Would Your Benefits Be?
- Social Security Online: Number of Credits Needed for Survivors Benefits
- Social Security Online: Publication 05-10069--How Work Affects Your Benefits
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