Social Security minimum benefit rule for survivors

Social Security has more than 2,700 rules that govern benefits, and a lot of those rules are exceptions. There’s an important exception that applies to widows and widowers — one that few people know about.

I often advise married couples to focus on how to maximize survivor benefits when deciding when they should claim Social Security. The best way to do that is to have one spouse — preferably the one with the bigger Social Security benefit — wait as long as possible, up to age 70, to file for Social Security retirement benefits.

Often, the higher earner is the husband and actuarially, wives tend to outlive their husbands. When the husband dies, the widow is able to step up to a larger survivor benefit if it's larger than her own retirement benefit. A survivor benefit is worth up to 100% of what the deceased worker was collecting at the time of death.

But what happens if the husband collected his retirement benefit early? What does his early claiming decision do to his widow’s potential survivor benefit?

“Generally, if the worker started receiving retirement benefits before their full retirement age, we cannot pay the full retirement age benefit amount on their record,” the Social Security Administrations explains in its online publication for survivors. “Generally, if the person who died was receiving reduced benefits, we base the survivors benefit on that amount.”

But thanks to a special minimum benefit rule, widows, widowers and eligible surviving divorced spouses may actually be able to receive a bigger benefit than the deceased worker was collecting if the survivor waits until her full retirement age or later to collect her widow’s benefit. Social Security benefits are gender neutral, so the same rules apply to a widower whose wife died first.

Here’s a perfect example of how the minimum widow’s benefit works. Michael, a financial adviser in Pennsylvania, wrote to me recently about a newly widowed client.

“The husband was collecting Social Security and receiving $1,897 per month net (after Medicare premium deductions) when he passed away, which would be more than the surviving spouse would receive from her own Social Security retirement benefits,” Michael explained in an email. The husband was 65 years old when he died. The widow is 58, still working, and doesn’t plan to retire for a few more years. Her full retirement age is 67.

“What is the maximum survivor benefit she could receive from her husband’s Social Security benefits?” Michael asked. “If she retired at 65, could she begin collecting her own retirement benefit for two years and then switch to the larger survivor benefit at her full retirement age?”

Yes, I replied, the widow could collect her reduced Social Security retirement benefit first and switch to the larger survivor benefit at her full retirement age of 67.

If she claimed survivor benefits at her full retirement age, they would be worth at least 100% of what her husband was collecting at time of death. Her survivor benefit could be worth even more than her late husband was receiving, depending on his age when he first claimed benefits.

For example, if he claimed his retirement benefits at the earliest age of 62, his benefit would be worth 75% of his full retirement age amount. If widow waited until her full retirement age to claim survivor benefits, she would receive the higher of what he was collecting at the time of his death or 82.5% of his full retirement age benefit under the minimum widow’s benefit rule. In this example, the widow would receive 82.5% of her late husband’s full retirement age benefit amount.

Here’s another exception: Depending on birth year, your full retirement age may be different for retirement benefits and survivor benefits. For example, someone who was born in 1960 has a full retirement age of 67 for retirement benefits, but a full retirement age of 66 and 8 months for survivor benefits.

Survivor benefits differ in several other ways from retirement benefits. A widow or widower may be eligible for reduced survivor benefits as early as age 60 (age 50 if disabled) compared to the earliest retirement age of 62.

And a widow or widower who's caring for the deceased’s child who is under age 16 may be eligible for survivor benefits, regardless of their age, but would be subject to earnings restrictions if they continue to work.

[More: When can a widow collect her husband’s social security?]

Finally, an individual who remarries before age 60 loses the right to collect survivor benefits unless that subsequent marriage ends in death or divorce. But if a widow or widower waits until 60 or later to remarry, they can collect survivor benefits on a deceased spouse, even if they're married to someone else.

(Questions about new Social Security rules? Find the answers in Mary Beth Franklin’s 2022 ebook at MaximizingSocialSecurityBenefits.com.)