Full benefits are available at full retirement age. Benefits are for life. A surviving spouse who has a disability can collect benefits as early as age 50. The benefit begins upon the death of the retiree and continues until the surviving spouse is age 65.
As long as you remain alive, you continue drawing benefits based on your work record and how much you've earned over your lifetime. When you die, the benefits cease – there is no accrued balance that is paid out to your estate or to your survivors. Social Security does not pay benefits for the month of your death.
Even if you've never had a job, you may still be eligible for Social Security benefits when you retire or become disabled. Social Security benefits are based on the amount of income you earned during your working life.
The full retirement age is 66 if you were born from 1943 to 1954. The full retirement age increases gradually if you were born from 1955 to 1960 until it reaches 67. For anyone born 1960 or later, full retirement benefits are payable at age 67.
There is a maximum Social Security benefit amount you can receive, though it depends on the age you retire. For someone at full retirement age in 2021, the maximum monthly benefit is $3,113. For someone filing at age 70, the maximum monthly amount is $3,895.
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.
Within a family, a child can receive up to half of the parent's full retirement or disability benefit. If a child receives survivors benefits, they can get up to 75 percent of the deceased parent's basic Social Security benefit. ... It can be from 150 to 180 percent of the parent's full benefit amount.
Your family members may receive survivors benefits if you die. If you are working and paying into Social Security, some of those taxes you pay are for survivors benefits. Your spouse, children, and parents could be eligible for benefits based on your earnings.
About 4 percent of the aged population never receives Social Security benefits. These never-beneficiaries include higher proportions of women, Hispanics, immigrants, the never-married, and the widowed than the beneficiary population; never-beneficiaries are also comparatively less educated.
If you still have children at home under the age of 18, they are also eligible for a Social Security survivor benefit. The requirements for eligibility are the same as they are for disability benefits. However, instead of 50% of the worker's benefit amount, children will receive 75% of the worker's benefit amount.
If you claim Social Security at age 62, rather than wait until your full retirement age (FRA), you can expect up to a 30% reduction in monthly benefits. For every year you delay claiming Social Security past your FRA up to age 70, you get an 8% increase in your benefit.
Three disadvantages of taking Social Security early
For example, if you were eligible to receive a full benefit of $1,000 per month at age 67, taking benefits at 62 would drop the amount to $750.
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