How much does a spouse receive from social security

En español | Yes, you can collect Social Security's on a spouse's earnings record. You may be able to do this in the form of spousal benefits, or as survivor benefits if you are a widow or widower.

Depending on your age upon claiming, spousal benefits can range from 32.5 percent to 50 percent of your husband’s or wife’s primary insurance amount — the retirement benefit to which he or she is entitled at full retirement age, or FRA. Regardless of the amount of the spousal benefit, it does not affect the amount of your mate’s retirement payment.

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You qualify for spousal benefits if:

• Your spouse is already collecting retirement benefits.
• You have been married for at least a year.
• You are at least 62 years old (unless you are caring for a child who is under 16 or disabled, in which case the age rule does not apply).  

You can collect benefits on a spouse’s work record regardless of whether you also worked. If you are eligible for both your own retirement benefit and a spousal benefit, Social Security will pay you the higher of the two amounts.

The chief criteria to qualify for survivor benefits are:

• You were married to the deceased for at least nine months (unless the death is accidental or occurs in the line of military duty, in which case there is no minimum time period).
• You are at least age 60, unless you are disabled (then it’s 50) or caring for a child of the deceased who is under 16 or disabled (in which case there's no age minimum).

In most cases, survivor benefits are based on the benefit amount the late spouse was receiving, or was eligible to receive, when he or she died.

How much of that amount you are entitled to depends on your age when you file. The proportion rises from 71.5 percent if you claim survivor benefits at 60 (50 if you are disabled) to 100 percent if you wait until your full retirement age (which is currently 66 for survivors but will gradually rise to 67 over the next several years). If the survivor benefit is based on your caring for a child, you receive 75 percent of the deceased’s benefit, regardless of your own age when you file.
 

When a Social Security beneficiary dies, his or her surviving spouse is eligible for survivor benefits. A surviving spouse can collect 100 percent of the late spouse’s benefit if the survivor has reached full retirement age, but the amount will be lower if the deceased spouse claimed benefits before he or she reached full retirement age. (Full retirement age for survivor benefits differs from that for retirement and spousal benefits; it is currently 66 but will gradually increase to 67 over the next several years.)

If you were already receiving spousal benefits on the deceased’s work record, Social Security will in most cases switch you automatically to survivor benefits when the death is reported. Otherwise, you will need to apply for survivor benefits by calling the Social Security Administration at 800-772-1213 or contacting your local Social Security office. 

How to Get More Out of Your Medicare & Social Security

AARP’s free event on Medicare and Social Security benefits is now available on demand! Get answers to many of your questions on Medicare enrollment and coverage, Social Security claiming strategies and much more. 

Highlights include: 

• Keynote by AARP Financial Ambassador Jean Chatzky
• 16 recorded breakout sessions  
• Webinars, resource guides and more

Watch on demand

Local offices fully reopened April 7 after being closed to walk-in traffic for more than two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Social Security recommends calling in advance and scheduling an appointment to avoid long waits.

In most cases, a widow or widower qualifies for survivor benefits if he or she is at least 60 and had been married to the deceased for at least nine months at the time of death. But there are a few exceptions to those requirements:

• If the late beneficiary’s death was accidental or occurred in the line of U.S. military duty, there’s no length-of-marriage requirement.
• You can apply for survivor benefits as early as age 50 if you are disabled and the disability occurred within seven years of your spouse’s death.
• If you are caring for children from the marriage who are under 16 or disabled, you can apply at any age.

Whether you have wed again can also affect eligibility. If the remarriage took place before you turned 60 (50 if you are disabled), you cannot draw survivor benefits. You regain eligibility if that marriage ends. And there is no effect on eligibility for survivor benefits if you remarry at or past 60 (50 if disabled).

The survivor benefit is generally calculated on the benefit your late spouse was receiving from Social Security at the time of death (or was entitled to receive, based on age and earnings history, if he or she had not yet claimed benefits). The actual amount of your payment will differ according to your age and family circumstance:

• As previously noted, if you have reached full retirement age, you get 100 percent of the benefit your spouse was (or would have been) collecting.
• If you claim survivor benefits between age 60 and your full retirement age, you will receive between 71.5 percent and 99 percent of the deceased’s benefit. The percentage gets higher the older you are when you claim.
• If you claim in your 50s as a disabled spouse, the survivor benefit is 71.5 percent of your late spouse's benefit.
  
• If you apply on the basis of caring for a child who is under 16 or disabled, you can collect 75 percent of the late spouse’s benefit, regardless of your age.

Keep in mind

• You will not receive a survivor benefit in addition to your own retirement benefit; Social Security will pay the higher of the two amounts.
• If you are the divorced former spouse of a deceased Social Security recipient, you might qualify for survivor benefits on his or her work record.
• If you are below full retirement age and still working, your survivor benefit could be affected by Social Security's earnings limit.
• It does not matter whether a surviving spouse worked long enough to qualify for Social Security on his or her own. He or she can still collect benefits on the deceased spouse’s work record.

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