3632 / What are Social Security survivor benefits? What planning considerations can arise when claiming survivor benefits?

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. Like a traditional spousal benefit that is received when both spouses are alive, the amount of the survivor benefit is 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 percent of the deceased spouse’s benefit. If the deceased spouse was receiving a reduced benefit, the survivor is only entitled to receive that reduced amount. However, 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 percent of the deceased spouse’s full benefit.

If a surviving spouse is between ages 50 and 59½ and is disabled, he or she is entitled to receive a reduced benefit (71.5 percent of the deceased spouse’s benefit).

However, additional complexities come into play when a surviving spouse is also entitled to claim his or her own retirement benefit. If both spouses are already claiming benefits, 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. 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.

In determining which benefit to choose (and when), it is important that both the size of the benefits and the client’s life expectancy are taken into account. A client who has a long remaining life expectancy may choose to take a lower survivor benefit for several years in order to eventually switch to an increased benefit at age 70 (survivor benefits do not increase if claimed later than full retirement age).