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It’s unfortunate but it will happen: A spouse dies and the eligible surviving single spouse will have to make an important and very strategic decision: how to handle Social Security survivor benefits.
This may help that survivor think through the decision.
It is important to understand that there is a difference between benefits paid to retired workers, spouses, and dependents of retired workers and benefits paid to survivors after someone dies.
Spousal benefits
For the spousal category:
- Generally, reduced retirement benefits can be paid when the worker turns 62.
- Spousal benefits can be paid when both the worker and the dependent spouse are both alive.
- Spousal benefits can start as early as age 62.
- To collect spousal benefits the worker and the spouse must be legally married for 12 months.
- For divorced spouses you must have been married for 10 years and single. Plus the ex-spouse must qualify for benefits on their own record and be 62 or older.
- There is a limit on the size of spousal benefits. The limit is based on 50 percent of the workers’ benefit (the 50 percent rule).
Here is a hypothetical example:
- Assume that Bob and Mary have been married for one year or more.
- For several reasons, Mary at her full retirement age of 67, does not have the needed 40 credits to qualify for benefits on her own work record.
- Bob has earned the 40 credits needed and qualifies for $3,000 a month at his full retirement age of 67.
- When Bob files for benefit on his own record, Mary can also qualify for a spousal benefit of $1,500 a month.
- If Mary had 40 credits on her own record and qualified for $1,000, then her spousal benefit from Bob would be $500 a month. The 50 percent rule is always the maximum amount of spousal benefit that can be paid.
The spousal benefits paid to Mary do not reduce any of the benefits paid to Bob. The spousal benefit is additional money paid to Mary because they were married for more than one year.
Survivor benefits
Survivor benefits on the other hand have a much different set of rules.
- The requirement for marriage is reduced from one year for spousal benefits to nine months for survivor benefits.
- The amount of benefit for the survivor increases from 50 percent to 100 percent.
Using the above example, if Bob dies at age 75.
- Mary, also 75, was collecting $1,500 a month in spousal benefits.
- Now as a widow, the survivor benefit increases to $3,000 a month or 100 percent of Bob’s benefit.
Survivors can start benefits as early as age 60, but the benefits would be reduced for early filing. Regular retirement age is 67.
In addition to these major differences, survivors have the ability to exercise something called the “restricted filing strategy.”
Spouses, born after January 1, 1954, do not have access to restricted filing strategies, but survivors do have access to this strategy.
What is restricted filing? How does it work?
Restricted filing allows a widow or widower to collect Social Security benefits from the spouse who died and, at the same time, earn delayed retirement credits on their own record. Delayed retirement credits increase the survivor’s benefit by up to 8 percent simple interest per year between age 67 and age 70.
Here is a hypothetical example of how restricted filing would work for Calli who lost her husband Sam. Calli is 67 years old when Sam died.
In this example let’s assume that:
- Sam was collecting $3,000 a month in Social Security benefits based on his work record.
- Calli has a benefit based on her own work record of $2,900 a month starting at her full retirement age of 67.
- Using the restricted filing strategy, Calli can collect $3,000 a month from Sam’s record until she is age 70.
- At that time, Calli will switch from Sam’s record to her own work record. The delayed retirement credits will increase her own monthly benefit at age 70 for the rest of her life.
If Calli did not know about the restricted filing strategy and lived to age 90, the cumulative difference between filing on her own record at 67 versus following the restricted filing strategy would be over $133,809 if you factor in a 2 percent COLA adjustment each year.
In this situation, Sam’s Social Security benefit allows Calli to directly collect from his record for almost three years. Then at age 70, Calli can receive the maximum amount from her own record for as long as she lives. This is a powerful legacy from Sam and a gift to Calli.
When restricted filing doesn’t work
Sometimes the restricted filing strategy is not the right path to follow with Social Security benefits for a survivor. For a different example, let’s look at Nancy who is age 63 when her husband Allen died.
- Nancy has a full retirement age benefit of $1,500 on her own record, while Allen was collecting $2,900 on his own record when he died.
- It might be best for Nancy to start collecting $1,125 from her own record at age 63 until she reaches her full retirement age of 67. Because Nancy started taking benefits before her full retirement age, her benefit was reduced for early filing.
- When Nancy reaches her full retirement age she would continue collecting from her own record and add the survivor benefit from Allen’s record.
- This strategy would now pay Nancy $1,218 from her own record plus a survivor benefit from Allen’s record of $1,921 a month.
- The combination of the two benefits is $3,139 a month.
Allen’s survivor benefit paid to Nancy acts like a shock absorber to guarantee that Nancy will receive the maximum benefit for the rest of her life. This strategy will cumulatively pay Nancy over $110,502 more than if she had just filed on her own record. These projections include a 2 percent COLA assumption over her lifetime. Higher cost of living increases amplifies these differences dramatically.
Social Security choices
When it comes to Social Security choices it is very important to be your own best advocate. The employees of the Social Security Administration want to be helpful. However, they are not planners and they certainly do not know all unique differences about each worker’s situation. Their important job is to respond to the wishes and requests of the workers who have paid into the system. Survivors must let the Social Security Administration know about which choices best work for their own set of life circumstances. A financial professional can help you assess your options.
Connect with a MassMutual financial professional
Based on the 2025 Trustees report, at the end of 2024 there were 54,000,000 people and their dependents collecting retirement benefits, 8,000,000 collecting disability benefits and 6,000,000 collecting survivor benefits.
For more information or copies of publications, or to set up your Social Security myAccount, visit the Social Security Administration website at www.ssa.gov or call toll free at 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778).
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