What Happens to Your Social Security If Your Spouse Dies?
Nobody wants to plan for the death of a loved one. But losing a spouse can be a financially vulnerable moment for retirees, and understanding how your future could be affected is crucial.
A main consideration for many retirees is Social Security, and your benefits may change when a spouse passes away. Here's what can happen, and how to prepare.
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Social Security survivor benefit basics
Surviving spouses can receive survivor benefits. The surviving spouse can collect these benefits as early as age 60, but if they collect that early, the benefits are reduced. They may be able to get full survivor benefits — up to 100% of their spouse’s benefits — at full retirement age, which is 66 or 67. There are some expectations. For instance, the surviving spouse might be eligible for benefits at any age if they’re taking care of a child who is younger than 16 or has a disability.
If you’re already receiving benefits based on your spouse’s earnings, the Social Security Administration will change your payments to survivor benefits. If you’re already receiving benefits but it’s based on your own work, the administration says to call or visit.
“We’ll check to see if you can get more money as a surviving spouse,” it wrote in a recent guide. “If so, you’ll get a combination of benefits that equals the higher amount.”
In most cases, a couple must be married for at least nine months for the surviving spouse to be eligible for the survivorship benefit, although there is an exception for deaths caused by accidents. And divorced spouses may qualify if they were married for at least 10 years.
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How to maximize survivor benefits
The higher earner’s Social Security benefit dictates the maximum survivor benefits. The longer they wait to claim Social Security, the higher the benefit may be.
That means the spouse with higher career earnings may want to wait to claim Social Security until age 70 — though you should consider your family’s specific situation. The spouse with the lower total earnings could claim Social Security earlier. This method of spouses claiming at different ages is referred to as the “split strategy.”
The income gap and how to bridge it
It’s not fun to have these types of conversations, but planning for a “survivor income gap” — the drop in income when one spouse passes away — from day one of retirement can leave couples more prepared for worst-case scenarios. Even with the survivorship benefit, the surviving spouse will have to contend with no longer having both spouse’s benefits factor into the household income.
Some people opt to get a life insurance policy that can cover lost Social Security income. But remember, the more money you save while you work, the more options you will have as retirement approaches.
Getting clarity of your current financial state can help you act now instead of getting caught by surprise. Social Security’s website offers calculators to determine how much money you will get, including for survivor benefits. This information can help you and your spouse plan for the future.