Losing a loved one can be difficult and painful in so many ways. While the worst pain is emotional, there can also be many practical difficulties as well. Certainly, a spouse’s death can cause financial difficulties – especially if that loved one earned a significant amount of income for your family. As a result, widows and widowers who have lost a spouse and find themselves struggling financially often wonder if they can collect that spouse’s Social Security benefits after they have passed away.
The short answer to this question is, fortunately, yes. Often, spouses of those who are deceased can collect benefits known as “survivor’s benefits.” These benefits can be a key source of financial support and stability for those who have lost a loved one.
What Are Survivor’s Benefits?
The Social Security Administration will allow widowers to collect their deceased spouse’s Social Security disability benefits in certain situations if they meet particular criteria. These criteria include:
- The surviving spouse must be at least fifty years old;
- The surviving spouse must have been married to the deceased spouse for at least nine months (there are some exceptions to this rule, including for those who were married for less than nine months but have a child with the deceased spouse);
- The deceased spouse was considered fully insured under the SSDI program.
If you meet these criteria, you may be eligible to receive widower’s survivor benefits. Eligibility might vary depending upon your particular situation, including whether you are:
- Not disabled: If, as the widower, you are not disabled yourself, non-disabled widow(er) benefits may be available to you if you are age 60 or older. Those who wish to receive benefits prior to reaching full retirement age can receive reduced retirement benefits at the age of 60. Those who want to wait until full retirement age can receive the full amount their spouse either was receiving or would have been entitled to receive.
- Disabled: If you are at least 50 years old and have been determined to be disabled by the Social Security Administration, you may be eligible for disabled widower benefits (DWB, for short), provided that your disability began between the ages of 50 and 60 years old, and began either before your spouse died, or within seven years of their death.
- Married: Typically, in order to receive a widower’s benefits, you must remain unmarried. Remarriage will typically end your eligibility for survivor’s benefits. However, if you remarry and that marriage ends, you may again become eligible for benefits. Additionally, if you remarry after you turn 60 years old (or 50 years old if you are disabled yourself), the Social Security Administration typically will not stop your benefits upon remarriage.
How Much Will the Benefit Amount Be?
As a general rule, the amount of benefit that a surviving spouse receives will depend on how much the deceased spouse earned over their lifetime and, accordingly, paid into the Social Security system in taxes. Therefore, the higher a deceased spouse’s lifetime earnings were, the higher the amount the surviving spouse will receive, up to the maximum amount the deceased spouse could have received if they were alive.
In some cases, your spouse’s child may also receive disability benefits. If this is the situation for your family, you might receive less as an individual because there is a maximum amount that a family can receive. Although the family benefit limit may change from year to year, as a general rule, it is usually approximately 150 to 180% of the deceased worker’s benefit amount. In addition, benefit amounts for a surviving spouse may be affected if they receive benefits based on their own work record.
Understandably, all of the rules and laws surrounding disability benefits may seem complicated and confusing – and they can be. The good news, though, is you never have to travel this path alone. At Muse Disability, we’re here to help.
Muse Disability – Here For You
At Muse Disability, we understand and appreciate the fact that many of our clients are going through very difficult situations. Losing a loved one is an extremely painful event in so many ways. Although we unfortunately can’t take that pain away, we are here to help do what we can to support you by pursuing the benefits you need and deserve.
We know that the last thing you need when you are struggling with grief is to worry about complicated legal matters as well. Instead, you can leave those matters to us and trust that you are putting your case in excellent hands when you do. We know and understand the law and will always pursue the best strategies on your behalf. If you’re ready to get started, give us a call today. We look forward to speaking with you soon.