INmail: Remarriage rules for survivors

Cameron: I have a hypothetical question regarding a widow who is 62 and has not claimed Social Security. Her husband died four years ago. She plans to claim survivor benefits at her full retirement age. My question is, if she remarries, does the Social Security survivor benefit go away?

MBF: Good news! As the widow has already waited beyond age 60 to remarry, she can claim a survivor benefit based on her first husband’s earnings record even while married to someone else.

Depending on her earnings history, the widow may be entitled to three different Social Security benefits: her own retirement benefit, a survivor benefit based on her late husband’s earnings and aspousal benefit once she remarries. But she can claim only one benefit at a time.

Keep in mind that spousal benefits are worth up to 50% of a worker’s full retirement age benefit amount if the spouse claims at her full retirement age or later, while survivor benefits are worth 100% of a deceased worker’s benefit if the survivor claims at full retirement age or later. So it’s likely the survivor benefit on her first husband would be larger than the spousal benefit on her future husband.

If your client is entitled to Social Security on her own earnings record, she may want to collect reduced retirement benefits now at age 62 and switch to her survivor benefits at her full retirement age, when they would be worth 100% of what her husband was receiving or entitled to receive at the time of his death. Survivor benefits do not grow larger if collected after full retirement age.

Assuming your client was born in 1959, she is among the group of Social Security beneficiaries bornfrom 1955 through 1962 who have different ages for full retirement benefits and full survivor benefits. For example, someone born in 1959 can claim full retirement benefits at 66 and 10 months but is eligible for full survivor benefits four months sooner, at age 66 and 6 months.

However, if she collects any type of Social Security benefit before her full retirement age and continues to work, she is subject to earnings restrictions if her gross wages exceed $18,960 in 2021.

Mary Beth Franklin, a certified financial planner, is a contributing editor for InvestmentNews.