Ask the Expert: I have stage 4 cancer. Should my wife take Social Security now, or apply for survivor benefits later?
I’m 64, and I took Social Security at 62. I receive $2,200 per month. My wife is 61, and is eligible to receive a $600 monthly benefit at 62. I have stage 4 cancer and may not be around five years from now. What’s my wife’s best course of action? Take $600 at age 62, or take spousal benefits, or wait to apply for survivor benefits?
You and your wife should make an appointment at your local Social Security office, where they can review both your work records and put dollar amounts on all her options, both during your lifetime and after your death.
Her full retirement age (FRA) is 67. One reassuring rule: She can apply for Social Security as early as age 62 without affecting the size of her survivor benefit, provided she doesn’t apply for the survivor benefit until she’s 67.
During your lifetime, she can collect a monthly Social Security benefit based on her own work record or a spousal benefit based on your record, whichever is bigger. But if she applies early, both those benefits will be reduced. If she applies at age 62, she'll receive only 70% of her own FRA benefit and her spousal benefit will be 35% of your FRA benefit instead of 50%. The reductions are permanent. The closer her application date is to her FRA, the smaller the reduction in benefits.
If you die first, she could switch to a survivor benefit. If she waits until her FRA to apply for it, she’ll receive the maximum amount. In her case, that will be whichever is bigger — the benefit you were collecting at your death, or 82.5% of the benefit you would have been collecting if you had taken Social Security at your FRA.
The bottom line
Special Social Security rules apply to survivor benefits.
More information
Correction: The questioner's wife will receive 70% of her FRA benefit and her spousal benefit will be 35% if she applies for Social Security at 62. An earlier version of this column misstated how much her Social Security benefit would be reduced.
