Social Security Claiming: A Tale of Two Survivor Benefits

Then, in November 2031, Amanda files at age 67 for her full surviving divorced spouse benefit on her second spouse's earnings record, boosting her monthly payment to $2,457. This results in a total projected benefit of $735,630.

Bonus Insight on Survivor Benefits

Among the many sources of insight on the rules and requirements affecting survivor benefits is the ALM Tax Facts library.

As detailed in entry No. 3632, after the death of a spouse, the surviving spouse can begin to claim Social Security survivor benefits as early as age 60 — although the benefit will be reduced based on the number of months remaining until the survivor reaches full retirement age.

As with a traditional spousal benefit that is received when both spouses are alive, the amount of the survivor benefit is calculated based on the deceased spouse's traditional retirement benefit, meaning that the benefit increases in proportion to how much the spouse earned during working years.

If the surviving spouse reached full retirement age before his or her death, the survivor's benefit will equal 100% of the deceased spouse's benefit. If the deceased spouse was receiving a reduced benefit, however, the survivor is only entitled to receive that reduced amount.

Importantly, if the surviving spouse had reached full retirement age at the time of the claim, he or she will be entitled to the higher of the reduced benefit or 82.5% of the deceased spouse's full benefit. If a surviving spouse is between ages 50 and 59.5 and is disabled, he or she is entitled to receive a reduced benefit of 71.5% of the deceased spouse's benefit.

Beyond these basic rules, additional complexities come into play when a surviving spouse is also entitled to claim his or her own retirement benefit. Also, should both spouses already be claiming benefits upon the death of one member of the couple, the higher benefit amount automatically will become the survivor's benefit.

If the surviving spouse has not yet claimed his or her own benefit, he or she is entitled to receive the survivor's benefit or his or her own benefit. Thus, for many surviving spouses who have yet to reach full retirement age, it can be beneficial to take the survivor benefit and allow his or her own benefit to grow.

When the surviving spouse reaches age 70, he or she can switch from the survivor benefit to his or her own benefit, and receive an increased benefit.

Credit: Chris Nichols/ALM