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Widow Benefits and Enrollment You Should Know About

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The loss of a spouse is a traumatic experience, and it's difficult to focus on details like money and widow's benefits at a time like that. However, acting quickly to establish some financial security can help ease the burden during a difficult time. To maximize your benefits, you should think about these things sooner rather than later. Applying quickly can have an impact on your ongoing payments for many years. This guide helps you understand what to consider at this time.

Enrollment

Enrollment is the term used for applying for Social Security benefits. Unless it's clearly stated by the applicant, Social Security treats all enrollments as a combined widow's (or survivor's) benefit and retirement benefit application. If you're under full retirement age and enrolling for widow's benefits, you need to be clear that you aren't enrolling for the retirement benefit. That means your retirement benefits remain intact, and future benefits aren't impacted by an early claim.

Eligibility

You must have been married for longer than nine months at the time of death to be eligible for widow's benefits. There are only three exceptions to this condition, as follows:

If you were married for less than nine months, but your spouse was the parent of any surviving children The death was accidental Your spouse was on active military duty at the time of death

Even if you're now divorced, if you were married to the deceased for longer than 10 years, you may still be eligible to receive widow's benefits. However, if you remarry before the age of 60 and are still married, you're no longer entitled to receive these benefits when your former spouse dies.

Benefit Rates

The amount of benefit paid is calculated after considering a number of factors. If you and your spouse were already claiming benefits, the largest payment will continue to be paid as a widow's benefit. You can only claim one Social Security payment, so if your spouse's payment was the largest, you will continue to receive it, but your payment will cease.

If your spouse was receiving benefits but you weren't, you can choose to collect the widow's payment from age 60, and if your own retirement benefit will be larger, defer claiming until 70. If neither you or your spouse were receiving benefits, and you wait until full retirement age, you will collect 100% of the deceased partner's benefit amount.

If you're caring for a child under the age of 16 and the parent is your deceased spouse, you can claim 75% of the benefit amount from any age. There is no minimum age requirement in this situation.

When to Claim

Under normal circumstances, retirement benefits can be claimed from 62 years, but there are a number of advantages to delaying the claiming of Social Security benefits. Claims made at 60 for widow's benefits or 62 for retirement benefits result in payment of approximately 70% of the projected benefit amount. Benefits increase by around 8% per year from 62 to 70 years of age. There are no advantages to delaying benefits after 70 years.

If you're still working and continue to work until full retirement age, you need to watch your total earnings. If you earn over a certain level, a portion of your benefits will be withheld.

Seek Advice

Every situation is different, and there are many things you need to take into consideration. During this already stressful time, you may not feel comfortable making these very important financial decisions. If you have any concerns or questions, you should speak to a financial planner or a Social Security representative.

how to become an enrolled agent

Source: https://www.questionsanswered.net/article/widow-benefits-and-enrollment-you-should-know-about?utm_content=params%3Ao%3D740012%26ad%3DdirN%26qo%3DserpIndex

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