I'm so sorry for your loss, Ivanna. Losing a spouse is incredibly difficult, especially with young children to care for. I wanted to add some practical advice that might help with your immediate situation. Since you mentioned the SSA office is hard to reach and you can't take more time off work, consider these options: 1. **Online account**: If you haven't already, create a my Social Security account at ssa.gov. You can view benefit estimates, check your earnings record, and sometimes get information without calling. 2. **Written requests**: For complex questions like yours, sometimes submitting a written request to your local office can get you more detailed, documented answers than phone calls. 3. **Timing your calls**: If you must call, try early morning (8-9 AM) or late afternoon (4-5 PM) on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or Thursdays. Mondays and Fridays tend to be busiest. Regarding your strategy - everyone here is correct that you can take survivor benefits at 60 and switch to your own at 67 if higher. Since you're 45 now, you have 15 years to accumulate those work credits. Working full-time should easily get you the 40 credits needed. One thing to keep in mind: when your youngest turns 16 (in about 4 years), you'll become eligible for mother's benefits, which could provide some financial relief during those crucial working years before you're eligible for survivor benefits at 60. Stay strong - you're asking all the right questions and planning wisely for your family's future.

I'm really sorry for your loss, and I can see you're getting excellent advice here from people who've been through similar situations. One additional point I wanted to mention that might be helpful: when you do eventually apply for survivor benefits at 60, make sure to ask about "protective filing dates." If there's any delay in processing your application, SSA can sometimes backdate your benefits to when you first inquired, which could mean several months of retroactive payments. Also, since you mentioned being a teacher's aide, you might want to double-check whether your school district participates in Social Security or if they have their own retirement system. Some public employees don't pay into Social Security, which could affect your ability to earn those 40 credits you'll need for your own retirement benefit. The fact that you're thinking about this strategy now, 15 years ahead of time, shows you're being incredibly smart about planning for your family's future. Many people don't realize they have these options until it's too late to optimize their benefits. Keep working on building those credits - you've got plenty of time, and this community is here to help if you have more questions along the way.

This happened to my sister too! The award letter eventually came and showed that SSA had paid the LTD company directly for the offset (only the SSDI portion, not the full LTD amount). Don't forget that SSDI also has that stupid 5-month waiting period where you don't get any benefits at the beginning of your disability period.

UPDATE??? did u ever get this figured out? I'm curious what happened with all the money!

Good question about him waiting until 70. Your spousal benefit is based on his PIA (what he'd get at his full retirement age), not his actual benefit amount. So while HE would get a larger benefit by waiting until 70 (about 8% per year in delayed retirement credits), your spousal benefit wouldn't increase beyond 50% of his PIA. However, there's still an advantage to him waiting - if he passes away before you, you'd be eligible for survivor benefits equal to 100% of what he was receiving, including those delayed retirement credits. So his waiting could significantly increase your eventual widow's benefit. Given your age difference and his higher earning history, him delaying benefits could be a good strategy for maximizing your lifetime household benefits, especially if he has longevity in his family.

Just want to add one practical tip that helped me when I was navigating this - keep detailed records of all your communications with SSA! I created a simple spreadsheet tracking dates, who I spoke with, and what they told me. This saved me so much hassle later when I got conflicting information from different representatives. Also, if you haven't already, create your my Social Security account online at ssa.gov. You can see your earnings history, get benefit estimates, and even run scenarios for different filing ages. It's much more reliable than trying to get through on the phone, and you can see exactly what your husband's estimated PIA would be at different ages. One last thing - consider consulting with a fee-only financial planner who specializes in Social Security strategies before making any major decisions. The rules are complex and the stakes are high given that these decisions can't easily be undone.

Update us when you get the letter! I'm curious whether this was related to any cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) that might have been applied retroactively, or if there was some kind of earnings record correction. The timing with your son's age-out from benefits makes me think this is legitimate.

Congratulations on getting this resolved! This is exactly why the SSA community here is so valuable - your experience will help so many other parents who might face similar unexpected payments. The earnings record correction scenario you described is actually pretty common when there are updates to deceased worker records, but SSA's communication about it is often delayed or unclear. Really glad you're getting your son set up with financial planning too - that's excellent parenting right there!

That's a good point about the 35-year calculation. For anyone unfamiliar, Social Security uses your highest 35 years of earnings (indexed for inflation) to calculate benefits. Years with no earnings count as zeros in this calculation. This is why the spousal benefit is particularly important for those who spent time out of the workforce or had lower earnings for significant periods.

As someone who just went through this process with my parents last year, I can confirm the system does automatically calculate both benefits and gives the higher amount. However, I'd strongly recommend setting up a my Social Security account online if your wife hasn't already - this lets you track the application status and see exactly what benefits are being calculated. The processing can take 2-3 months to get the full amount right, so having online access helps you monitor what's happening rather than waiting and wondering. Also, definitely ask about those retroactive benefits when she applies - at 70, the 6 months of backpay is usually worth more than the small reduction in monthly benefits.