When a husband or wife dies, the surviving spouse can collect Social Security on their record. At the survivor’s full retirement age, that’s up to 100% of what the deceased was getting. Start as early as 60 and the check drops to 71.5%.
There’s one more rule that catches people. If the person who died claimed their own benefit early, the survivor benefit is limited, even if you wait. Enter the deceased’s full retirement age amount and what they were receiving, and the calculator applies both rules.
Survivor benefit at each age
Take a husband whose benefit at full retirement age was $2,000. He waited until 67 to claim, so he was getting the full $2,000. His wife was born in 1962, which puts her survivor full retirement age at 67.
If she starts survivor benefits at 67, she gets $2,000. At 64 she’d get about $1,756. At 60 the check is $1,430.
Waiting past full retirement age adds nothing to a survivor benefit. The most you can get is at that age.
The reduction for starting early
The cut is spread evenly between 60 and your survivor full retirement age. At 60 you keep 71.5%, a reduction of 28.5%. Each month you wait shaves off a sliver of that. With a full retirement age of 67, that works out to about 0.34% a month.
Survivor full retirement age isn’t always the same as the age for your own retirement benefit. It uses a table shifted by two years:
- Born 1956 or earlier: 66
- Born 1957: 66 and 2 months
- Born 1958: 66 and 4 months
- Born 1959: 66 and 6 months
- Born 1960: 66 and 8 months
- Born 1961: 66 and 10 months
- Born 1962 or later: 67
The 82.5% limit if they claimed early
This is the widow’s limit, and it’s the reason two survivors with the same records can get different checks.
If the deceased took a reduced retirement benefit before full retirement age, your survivor benefit can’t be more than the larger of two numbers: what they were receiving, or 82.5% of their full retirement age amount.
Take the same $2,000 husband, but say he claimed at 62 and was getting $1,400. Then 82.5% of $2,000 is $1,650, which is more than $1,400, so $1,650 becomes the ceiling. His widow gets $1,650 at 67, not $2,000. Because of how the two rules interact, she also hits that ceiling at about 63 and gains nothing by waiting longer.
It works the other way too. If the deceased waited past full retirement age and was getting delayed retirement credits, those carry over. A $2,000 full benefit that grew to $2,480 at 70 gives the survivor $2,480 at full retirement age.
Who can get survivor benefits
You can usually collect as a widow or widower if you were married for at least nine months before the death. The nine month rule doesn’t apply if the death was an accident or in military service, or if you had a child together.
The age rules:
- 60 or older for regular survivor benefits
- 50 or older if you’re disabled and the disability started within a set period around the death
- Any age if you’re caring for the deceased’s child who is under 16 or disabled
Remarrying before 60 generally ends survivor benefits. Remarrying at 60 or later doesn’t.
A divorced spouse can qualify too, if the marriage lasted at least 10 years.
Children can get survivor benefits as well, usually 75% of the deceased’s full benefit each, until 18, or 19 if still in high school. A family maximum caps the total.
If you have your own benefit
Social Security doesn’t pay two full checks. If you’re entitled to your own retirement benefit and a survivor benefit, you get the higher one.
But you can choose the order. Unlike spousal benefits, survivor benefits aren’t subject to deemed filing. That opens a common strategy. Take the reduced survivor benefit at 60, let your own benefit grow, then switch to your own at 70 if it’s bigger by then. Or do it the other way: start your own reduced benefit at 62 and switch to the full survivor benefit at full retirement age.
Which order works best depends on which of the two numbers is larger. Our claiming age calculator shows how your own benefit grows with each year you wait.
Questions people ask
How do I apply?
SSA generally takes survivor applications by phone or in person, not through the regular online retirement application. Call 1-800-772-1213 or make an appointment at a local office. Funeral homes usually report the death to SSA, but you still have to apply for benefits yourself.
Is there a death payment?
Yes, a one time $255 lump sum. It goes to a surviving spouse who was living with the deceased, or to an eligible child. It hasn’t changed since the 1950s.
What happens to the check for the month they died?
Social Security pays a month behind. The payment that arrives in the month of death is for the month before, and it can be kept. The check for the month the person died has to be returned, even if they died on the last day.
Can I work while getting survivor benefits?
Yes, but before your full retirement age the earnings limit can hold back part of the check. Our earnings limit calculator shows how much. The spousal benefit calculator covers benefits while both spouses are alive.
Does the yearly COLA apply?
Yes. Survivor benefits get the same increase as other Social Security benefits, 3.6% for 2027. See SSA’s page on survivors benefits for the full rules.
An estimate using SSA’s survivor reduction and widow’s limit rules. It does not account for the family maximum or your own retirement benefit. SSA decides the actual amount.