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Benefits for Widows

Benefits for Widows
People line up outside of the Social Security Administration office in San Francisco, Calif., on Feb. 2, 2005. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Tom Margenau
Tom Margenau
12/10/2020|Updated: 12/15/2020

I get a lot of emails from women who have questions about the widows benefits they are already getting. Or they have questions about the widows benefits they think they will be getting in the future. I’ve saved up a few of those and will answer them in today’s column.

Q: I am 70 years old. My husband has stage-four lung cancer. He is 72. He waited until he was 70 to start his benefits. He is getting $3,366 per month. I only worked on and off during our marriage, so my own benefit is small. And I took reduced retirement at age 62. I get $900 per month. I called Social Security to find out what I would get when my husband dies. The agent told me that because I took reduced retirement benefits, my widows benefit also would be reduced. She said she couldn’t give me an exact number, but figured I would get about $2,000 per month. I was a little uncomfortable with that information. So, I called again and talked to a different representative. This guy told me that I would get a full 100 percent widows benefit, but it would be 100 percent of my husband’s full retirement rate, not his age-70 rate. He said I would keep my own $900 and get about $1,625 in widows benefits to take me up to my husband’s full retirement rate of $2,525. Does that sound right to you?
Tom Margenau
Tom Margenau
Author
Tom Margenau worked for 32 years in a variety of positions for the Social Security Administration before retiring in 2005. He has served as the director of SSA’s public information office, the chief editor of more than 100 SSA publications, a deputy press officer and spokesman, and a speechwriter for the commissioner of Social Security. For 12 years, he also wrote Social Security columns for local newspapers, and recently published the book “Social Security: Simple and Smart.” If you have a Social Security question, contact him at [email protected]
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Social Security
Widows
widows benefits
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