What Happens to Your Social Security Benefit When Your Spouse Dies?

Social Security provides guaranteed income to workers and spouses throughout retirement. Consequently, benefits tend to become increasingly important over time as other sources of savings, like 401(k) plans and IRAs, are gradually depleted.

Survivors benefits can play a particularly crucial role in helping a senior on Social Security make ends meet after their spouse passes away. But Nationwide Retirement Institute reports that 41% of surveyed adults are unaware the surviving spouse can inherit their deceased partner's payout in certain situations.

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Here's what happens to your Social Security benefit when your spouse dies.

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The difference between Social Security retirement benefits and survivors benefits

Social Security provides three different types of benefits: (1) retirement benefits, (2) survivors benefits, and (3) disability benefits. The first category includes two subgroupings: retired-worker benefits and spousal benefits. The differences between retirement benefits and survivors benefits are discussed in detail below:

Retired-worker benefits depend on lifetime earnings and claiming age. Inflation-adjusted earnings are plugged into a formula to find the primary insurance amount (PIA), which is the benefit a worker will receive if they claim Social Security at full retirement age (FRA).

Workers who claim before FRA get a reduced benefit, meaning less than 100% of their PIA. Workers who claim after FRA get an increased benefit, meaning more than 100% of their PIA. The precise reduction or increase depends on how many months early or late Social Security starts.

However, there are two important qualifications. First, eligibility begins at age 62, so no one can claim earlier. Second, delayed retirement credits stop at age 70, so it never makes sense to claim later.

Spousal benefits allow spouses to claim Social Security on the earnings record of a retired partner, provided certain conditions are met. The spouse must be at least age 62, and the partner on whose record they claim must be receiving benefits. If those conditions are met, spouses who claim spousal benefits at FRA will receive an amount equal to 50% of their retired partner's PIA.

Spouses who claim before full retirement age receive a reduced amount -- less than 50% of their retired partner's PIA. The reduction depends on how many months early benefits start, but it can be as much as 35%. Unlike retired-worker benefits, spousal benefits don't earn delayed retirement credits, so there's no advantage to claiming later than FRA

Survivors benefits are paid to a widow or widower when their spouse dies, as long as certain conditions are met. The survivor must be at least age 60, have been married for at least nine months, and not have remarried before age 60. The survivors benefit will equal 100% of the retirement benefit paid to the deceased spouse if the widow or widowerer claims benefits at FRA.

Widows and widowers who claim Social Security survivors benefits before full retirement age will receive a reduced payout. That precise reduction depends on how many months early payments begin, but it can be as much as 29%.

What happens to your Social Security benefit when your spouse dies

Married couples often receive two Social Security checks. In certain cases, that means two retired-worker benefits. In other cases, it means one retired-worker benefit and one spousal benefit. Either way, one of those revenue streams will disappear when one spouse dies.

Survivors benefits compensate for the lost income by allowing the widow or widower to keep the larger of the two Social Security payouts. If the remaining spouse already gets the larger check, nothing will happen to their benefit when their spouse dies. But if the deceased spouse was getting the larger check, the surviving spouse can replace their own retirement benefit with that of their deceased partner by applying for survivors benefits.

Here's an example: Joe receives a retired-worker benefit of $2,100 per month, and his wife Mary receives a retired-worker benefit of $1,800 per month. If Mary dies, John doesn't need to apply for survivors benefits because he already receives the larger payout. But if John dies, Mary will receive $2,100 per month (in lieu of $1,800 per month) if she applies for survivors benefits. To apply, Mary can either call Social Security or visit her local Social Security office.

Whereas spousal benefits equal as much as 50% of a retired worker's PIA, survivors benefits equal up to 100% of a retired worker's benefit. That means delayed retirement credits the deceased worker earned by claiming Social Security later than FRA are passed along to the surviving spouse.

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