My husband died suddenly just a month ago — can I collect his Social Security and mine at the same time?

Ezra was a corporate lawyer and made more money than Iris, a physical therapist, so his Social Security benefit would have been larger than hers.

Now Iris, who is dealing with the emotional devastation and logistical difficulties of managing the unexpected death of her husband, wants to know if she can collect Ezra’s retirement benefits at the same time that she takes hers.

In order to answer this question for Iris, let’s take a detailed look at the Social Security benefits you are entitled to after your spouse dies.

How a spouse’s death impacts retirement benefits

Social Security provides a variety of benefits: retirement, survivor and disability. Retirement benefits include both retired-worker and spousal benefits.

A married couple of retirement age are eligible for two checks from the Social Security Administration (SSA):

• either two retired-worker benefits if both partners worked, or
• one retired-worker benefit and one spousal benefit for the spouse who doesn’t have a retired-worker benefit.

While both spouses are alive and if both worked, they can each collect their benefits without one of them offsetting the other.

Meanwhile, a spousal benefit can be as much as 50% of a retired worker’s primary insurance amount. If a working spouse dies, the spousal benefit is converted into a survivor benefit.

If you’re a surviving spouse, like Iris, you can claim either your retired-worker benefit or your late spouse’s benefits, but you cannot collect both at the same time. You’ll receive whichever benefit is higher, but you cannot collect the total of the two benefits added together.

The amount a surviving spouse will receive is based on the deceased spouse’s work record and age of retirement. If they have not yet claimed benefits and they die before their full retirement age, the survivors benefit is upped to what the deceased spouse would have received if they waited until full retirement age to collect.

If they died after reaching full retirement age but were waiting to collect in order to get a higher payment, that should also be reflected in the benefit.

If the surviving spouse waits until they themselves have reached full retirement age to collect the benefit, they will receive 100% of the payment. Between ages 60 and full retirement age, survivors may receive between 71.5% and 99%.

In some cases, you may be able to reset your survivor benefit if you start collecting early and then change your mind.

Note that you can claim your own retirement benefits as early as age 62, but payments will be reduced by a small percentage each month before full retirement age.

After reaching your full retirement age, you’ll get a monthly bump in your check until you reach age 70.

If a surviving spouse is already getting benefits based on their own work record, they should contact the SSA to find out if they can get more money from collecting survivor benefits.

What you need to know about survivor benefits

Close to 6 million Americans received Social Security survivor benefits in July of 2026, including widows and widowers, with an average monthly survivor benefit of roughly $1,634.61, according to the Social Security Administration.

You may be eligible for survivor benefits if you’re the spouse, ex-spouse or child of someone who worked and paid Social Security taxes before they died. To be eligible as a surviving spouse, you must be 60 or older, or 50 or older if you have a disability.

In some cases, age doesn’t matter. If you care for children from the marriage who have a disability or are under 16, you can also apply for survivor benefits regardless of age.

Another factor is your current marital status. If you are divorced from the spouse who has died, and you remarry before the age of 60 (or 50 if you have a disability), you’ll no longer be eligible for survivor benefits. But remarrying after age 60 won’t impact your eligibility.