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While we are waiting for Mad Man to catch this thread, I'd like to point out that the WEP does NOT apply to survivor's benefits. http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10045.pdf
And of course, electing to take reduced retirement benefits does NOT mean the same claimant will have to take reduced survivor's benefits.
So, unless a government pension offset applies (I haven't looked this up and you did not mention this) your spouse should receive your full benefit (including your earned credits) plus the full pension.
I am so glad to have found this discussion, as every person I speak with at social security gives me a different answer to my questions!
i'll try to be succinct and hope someone here can come up with an answer for me.
I am in my fifties and my life's work has been a wife and mom, caregiver for elderly parents and now to my elderly and terminally ill husband.
(he'd be so mad if he read that!! he sure doesn't look or act his age and he battles his illness like a warrior daily)
anyway so not much outside work from which to collect social security of my own someday.
hubby had to retire at 66 when his health failed and he began to collect ss at that time.
we are aware that he may pass away before I am 66 (13 years from now) and want to nail down (as much as we can) the numbers for planning purposes.
so far I've been told that if he passes before I am 60 then I will receive half of his current monthly check. (I hope this is true)!
I've also been told that if I chose to collect at 60 then i'll only be able to collect a quarter of his monthly check,
one woman said I couldn't collect until 62 no matter what.
anyone know better?
oh and dh has an irs penalty being taken from his monthly check--does that get satisfied by his death or not?
thanks a bunch!
talking survivor benefits only here you cannot collect before 60 unless you have his dependent child to take care of. Also as you said you will collect a LOT less if you start collecting at 60, the longer you can wait the better for you. I am in a similiar situation myself by the way. The 62 only applies to collection the spousal retirement benefit and again you loose a lot if you start at 62. That assumes he is still alive then. If you are already collecting spousal benefit when your husband passes on, then they will automatically switch you to widows benefits which would be the full amount he was receiving minus and amount for filing before FRA yourself. And those reductions are permanent so as I say the longer you can hold off the better. Also, though it is not something you would think about now if you were widowed and wanted to remarry if you wait to after age 60 they you could still file on your husbands account.
Personally I have not worked so in same boat as you and I am disabled myself, but no benefits for that, so cannot work myself if he dies. I am trying desperately to keep what life insurance I have on him in force so I can live on that untill I hit 66 myself if he does die before then.
My deepest sympathies are with you , this is an awful situation to be in all around.
I am so glad to have found this discussion, as every person I speak with at social security gives me a different answer to my questions!
i'll try to be succinct and hope someone here can come up with an answer for me.
I am in my fifties and my life's work has been a wife and mom, caregiver for elderly parents and now to my elderly and terminally ill husband.
(he'd be so mad if he read that!! he sure doesn't look or act his age and he battles his illness like a warrior daily)
anyway so not much outside work from which to collect social security of my own someday.
hubby had to retire at 66 when his health failed and he began to collect ss at that time.
we are aware that he may pass away before I am 66 (13 years from now) and want to nail down (as much as we can) the numbers for planning purposes.
so far I've been told that if he passes before I am 60 then I will receive half of his current monthly check. (I hope this is true)!
I've also been told that if I chose to collect at 60 then i'll only be able to collect a quarter of his monthly check,
one woman said I couldn't collect until 62 no matter what.
anyone know better?
oh and dh has an irs penalty being taken from his monthly check--does that get satisfied by his death or not?
thanks a bunch!
Oh, dear. Assuming you are not caring for a child under the age of 16, you will not be eligible to receive survivor's benefits until you are 60 years old OR are disabled (as defined by SSA). If you can prove disability, your benefits should equal the same amount you would receive if you waited to apply at age 60. The SSA website indicates a reduction of 28.5% . However, your full retirement age is NOT 66 years old. I'm guessing you were born around 1960? If so, your full retirement age is 66 years and 8 months. Ugh! I'm not sure those 8 months will make a significant difference in the monthly amount but here are a few sites to get you started:
I have great health insurance in my state and have an excellent long term health care plan in place.
I am not disabled and pray I never am--but bought the policy as I am an avid equestrian and I don't bounce the way I used to bounce!
so to clarify--if my dh passes away before I am 66 years and 8 months I should not expect anything from the social security office?
or I can start to collect at the age of 60 but at a reduced monthly amount?
I have great health insurance in my state and have an excellent long term health care plan in place.
I am not disabled and pray I never am--but bought the policy as I am an avid equestrian and I don't bounce the way I used to bounce!
so to clarify--if my dh passes away before I am 66 years and 8 months I should not expect anything from the social security office?
or I can start to collect at the age of 60 but at a reduced monthly amount?
thanks, this really helps.
Age 60 at a reduced monthly amount. (Assuming you are careful on that horse! )
I have great health insurance in my state and have an excellent long term health care plan in place.
I am not disabled and pray I never am--but bought the policy as I am an avid equestrian and I don't bounce the way I used to bounce!
so to clarify--if my dh passes away before I am 66 years and 8 months I should not expect anything from the social security office?
or I can start to collect at the age of 60 but at a reduced monthly amount?
thanks, this really helps.
One other thing just to clarify, if you are widowed and you decide to collect before you are FRA the reduction is .356% for each month before retirement age you are when you begin collecting so the closer you get to FRA the higher the amount you would receive. So while at 60 it would be a reduction of 25.8% that goes down and finally disappears as you go along. Hope that made sense.
thst reduction is off of what your spouse was getting . if they filed early it is a reduction off their already reduced amount.
Agreed, but we were replying to Suz1023 who stated, "hubby had to retire at 66 when his health failed and he began to collect ss at that time."
Caution: The information below should only be read by those readers whose heads will not explode upon reading additional SSA stuff
While reading the Simpson Bowles proposal, I saw a suggestion to eliminate the "obscure Retirement Insurance Benefit limitation (RIB-LIM) for widow(er)s benefit." Hmm, obscure? RIB-LIM ? So, I looked it up and found that some widows should NOT wait until FRA to draw survivor's benefits. Those widows, unsurprisingly, are the ones whose spouses drew reduced benefits prior to reaching FRA. Some survivors will reach that limited amount/maximum before reaching FRA and waiting until FRA to collect is simply leaving money on the table. Really.
Agreed, but we were replying to Suz1023 who stated, "hubby had to retire at 66 when his health failed and he began to collect ss at that time."
Caution: The information below should only be read by those readers whose heads will not explode upon reading additional SSA stuff
While reading the Simpson Bowles proposal, I saw a suggestion to eliminate the "obscure Retirement Insurance Benefit limitation (RIB-LIM) for widow(er)s benefit." Hmm, obscure? RIB-LIM ? So, I looked it up and found that some widows should NOT wait until FRA to draw survivor's benefits. Those widows, unsurprisingly, are the ones whose spouses drew reduced benefits prior to reaching FRA. Some survivors will reach that limited amount/maximum before reaching FRA and waiting until FRA to collect is simply leaving money on the table. Really.
Hmmmmm great stuff. I believe all of us need to be as informed as we can. Thanks lenora.
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