Social Security Q&A: Am I Entitled to a Survivor Benefit if I’m Still Working?
Social Security may be your largest or one of your largest assets. How you manage it, by deciding which benefits to collect and when, can make an absolutely huge difference to your lifetime benefits. And those with the highest past covered earnings have the most to gain from maximizing their Social Security.
Social Security may be your largest or one of your largest assets. How you manage it, by deciding which benefits to collect and when, can make an absolutely huge difference to your lifetime benefits. And those with the highest past covered earnings have the most to gain from maximizing their Social Security.
Today’s question asks about entitlement to a survivor’s benefit if the surviving spouse is still working. The answer reviews the eligibility requirements for survivor’s benefits and highlights the importance of relative earning records in determining how to coordinate claiming survivor and retirement benefits.
Question: My spouse passed away four years ago. I am still working. Would I be entitled to his Social Security?
Answer: If you were married nine months or more, you can collect survivor benefits based on your deceased spouse’s earnings record. You can collect reduced survivor benefits as early as age 60. But when you should take survivor benefits and when you should take your own retirement benefit depends on a number of factors, particularly how much you earned and are earning and how much your late spouse earned.
