Ask Liz Weston

Get smart with your money

Social Security

Q&A: Can an adult child inherit a deceased parent’s Social Security payments and pension?

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Dear Liz: My mom passed away recently. She had a teacher’s pension as well as Social Security benefits. Am I eligible to receive part of her benefits? If so, what steps must I take?

Answer: Social Security survivor benefits are meant to help a deceased worker’s dependents. Dependents include spouses, minor children and disabled children, as long as the disability started before the child turned 22. If you qualify, contact Social Security at (800) 772-1213.

Similarly, pension survivor benefits are typically limited to spouses and dependent children. You may be eligible for a one-time death benefit, if your mother named you as her beneficiary. Contact the pension administrator for details.

Q&A: Social Security survivor benefits

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Dear Liz: You recently wrote that someone’s Social Security survivor benefit would be the same as her spouse’s, including the 8% annual delayed retirement credits and cost of living increases. My husband just took his Social Security at age 70 but we were told I wouldn’t get his full survivor benefit as I took my own benefit at age 62. Is it because in the other question, the wife took her benefit at her full retirement age of 66 years and 8 months? So confused with all the rules!

Answer: The rules are certainly confusing, but the advice you got was wrong.

Your early start certainly reduced your own retirement benefit, but doesn’t reduce your survivor benefit. If your husband dies first and has the larger benefit, you’ll get a survivor benefit equal to his check and your retirement benefit will cease.

What does reduce survivor benefits is starting them early. Survivor benefits can start as early as 60, but you don’t get the full amount until you’ve reached full retirement age. (Full retirement age was 66 if you were born from 1943 to 1954. Between 1955 and 1959, full retirement age increases by two months each year; for people born in 1960 and later, full retirement age is 67.)

If you’re already past your full retirement age, you don’t need to worry about a reduced survivor benefit. If your husband dies before you reach full retirement age, the correct claiming strategy depends on your situation. Consider getting expert advice about when to switch to the survivor benefit.

Q&A: Social Security versus government pensions

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Dear Liz: I have a dear friend who after 48 years of marriage went through a horrible divorce. She worked for a school district that did not pay into Social Security but her ex was self-employed and did pay into the system. I advised her to apply for spousal benefits but she was told she was not entitled due to her pension. Is this right? Social Security is a federal program. What does it have to do with a state or county pension? I feel she is being cheated out of income she could desperately use.

Answer: It’s unfortunate that your friend is struggling. But she’d be worse off trying to live on a spousal benefit from Social Security than she is now.

People who get pensions from jobs that didn’t pay into Social Security may be subject to two provisions, the windfall elimination provision and the government pension offset. WEP can reduce but not eliminate any Social Security retirement benefit they earned from other jobs that paid into Social Security. Typically, the Social Security benefit at full retirement age won’t be reduced by more than half the pension amount.

GPO, by contrast, reduces a Social Security spousal or survivor benefit by two-thirds of the amount of the pension. That means GPO can entirely eliminate a Social Security benefit based on someone else’s work record. If your friend can’t qualify for a divorced spousal benefit, that means she’s already receiving more from her pension than she would get from Social Security.

Consider helping your friend look for other ways to make ends meet. Benefits Checkup, offered by the National Council on Aging, could help her find programs that could help pay for medical care, groceries, utilities and other necessities.

Q&A: Social Security survivor benefits

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Dear Liz: I am trying to understand the Social Security survivor benefit. I delayed starting to receive my benefits until I reached age 70. My wife just started receiving benefits at 66 and 10 months. Upon my passing, will she receive my benefit at full retirement age, plus the 8% annual delayed retirement credit plus the annual cost of living increases?

Answer: Assuming your benefit is larger than hers, then yes — her survivor benefit would be the amount you were getting at your death. The survivor gets the larger of the two checks a couple was receiving, and the other benefit goes away.

Q&A: Claiming Social Security benefits

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Dear Liz: My husband turned 70 this past May and waited until then to take his Social Security. I am 61 and will qualify for a benefit based on my work history, although my benefit is substantially less than his. I understand I can take half of his benefit at my full retirement age of 67. I asked a Social Security representative if I could take my (reduced) benefit at age 62 and then switch to half of my husband’s benefit at 67. She told me I should file at 62 and take half of his benefit at that time. That sounds too good to be true, and your article and others I’ve read disagree with her advice.

Answer: Social Security representatives aren’t supposed to give people advice about when or how to claim their benefits. But ideally they would offer correct information about your options.

Congress did away with most people’s ability to switch from a spousal benefit, which is up to 50% of their partner’s amount, to their own benefit. Now when you apply for Social Security, you’ll be considered to be applying for both a spousal benefit and your own benefit and you’ll get the larger of the two. There’s no switching later.

It could be that your own benefit will always be smaller than your spousal benefit, regardless of when you apply. But that doesn’t mean it’s a smart decision to lock in a permanently reduced benefit by applying early.

AARP has a free Social Security claiming calculator you can use to explore the impact of applying at different ages.

Q&A: Social Security benefits for exes

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Dear Liz: I divorced after three decades of marriage, and my ex remarried before age 60. If I understand Social Security’s rules correctly, that remarriage disqualified my ex from claiming a survivor’s benefit based on my work history. Here’s my question: If my ex’s current spouse dies before he does, does that then make him eligible to claim a survivor benefit on MY work history? I am retired and collect my Social Security benefit; he too is retired and presumably collecting his.

Answer: Yes. If your ex is widowed, he typically would have the option of taking a survivor benefit based on his most recent spouse’s work history, or a divorced survivor benefit based on your work history, instead of his own benefit. His choice would not affect how much you receive.