Q: I’m 62 years old and a widow. I have three questions. First, can I draw on my late husband’s Social Security benefit since I am a widow? If the answer is yes, will taking a widow’s benefit now affect my own Social Security benefit when I retire? And finally, can I collect a Social Security benefit now and draw unemployment insurance at the same time, since I’m currently unemployed! --CB via email
A: Yes,
no, and probably.
At 62, you are eligible to collect a widow’s benefit. Filing for it now won’t have any impact on the Social Security benefit you collect in the future based on your own work record.
Those are
the only five states that still reduce unemployment insurance benefits for people who are collecting Social Security retirement benefits.**
(Readers who live in those states should double-check to find out exactly how their laws apply to Social Security disability and survivors' benefits -- and whether the laws are likely to be repealed in today's harsh economic environment. Most states have already dropped such punitive requirements. As recently as 2002, however, there were still twenty-two states with laws requiring unemployment benefits to be ‘off-set’ by 50% to 100% of your monthly Social Security retirement benefit payment.)
Your maximum benefit as a widow or a widower is 100% of what your spouse would receive if he or she were alive. That means if your spouse took retirement benefits early, you’ll get less than the full retirement age benefit based on his or her work record.
One
caveat: at 62, you won’t be eligible for the maximum widow’s benefit.
Although you can file for a widow’s or widower’s benefit as early as age 60, the amount you get is smaller when you file for it before you’ve reached your own full retirement age. In your case, that’s age 66.
At 62,
your widow’s benefit is subject to a 19% reduction. In other words, a benefit
that would be $1,000 a month at age 66 is going to be $810 a month if you take
it now. But hey, now is clearly when you need it! And fortunately, taking it now won’t
prevent you from switching to your own full retirement age benefit when you
turn 66.
**This post originally left South Dakota and Virginia off the list of states that reduce your unemployment benefit if you're collecting Social Security. Virginia had repealed its offset law, but reinstated it when the state's unemployment insurance trust fund balance fell due to the recession. And South Dakota's repeal of its own offset law hasn't yet been triggered: repeal is contingent on the state trust fund reaching a balance it hasn't come close to achieving.
The original post included Colorado among the states with an offset law; however, Colorado repealed that law late last year.
Please send your
questions to Lynn@LynnBrennersFamilyFinance.com. I'm sorry I can't respond personally to every
email. Questions are only addressed online.
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