Social Security Widow Benefits: How Much Will You Get?

A surviving spouse can receive up to 100% of the deceased worker’s Social Security benefit at the survivor’s full retirement age, which is between 66 and 67. Benefits can start as early as 60, or 50 for a widow or widower with a disability, at 71.5% of that amount. Each child who qualifies gets 75% of the worker’s full benefit, and so does a surviving parent of any age who is caring for the worker’s child under 16 or disabled. A one-time $255 death payment may also be paid to the spouse or a child. In September 2026, widows and widowers without a disability averaged $1,935 a month, and children of deceased workers averaged $1,182.

What you actually get depends on four things: your age when you start, whether the person who died had already claimed and at what age, how many family members collect on the same record, and how your own retirement benefit compares. The calculator handles all four.

How much a widow or widower gets at each age

Social Security reduces a survivor benefit that starts before your survivor full retirement age by a fixed formula: the number of months early, multiplied by 0.285 and divided by the number of months between age 60 and your full retirement age. That makes 60 the floor at 71.5%, whatever your birth year. The percentage applies to the worker’s full benefit, or more if they had earned delayed credits, not to a reduced amount they may have been receiving. For someone whose survivor full retirement age is 67:

Your survivor full retirement age can be earlier than the age that applies to your own retirement benefit:

If you were born on January 1, use the previous year. Social Security’s survivor benefit amounts page gives the same 71.5% starting point.

A widow or widower aged 50 to 59 who has a disability that began within seven years of the worker’s death can also qualify. That benefit is figured as if you were 60, so it is 71.5% of the worker’s benefit.

What happens if the person who died had already claimed

The 100% is measured against different amounts depending on when the deceased started benefits.

If they died before claiming, or claimed at full retirement age, the survivor benefit is based on their full benefit, their primary insurance amount.

If they delayed past full retirement age, the delayed retirement credits carry over. A worker with a $2,400 full benefit who waited to 70 and was receiving $2,976 leaves a survivor benefit of up to $2,976.

If they claimed early, a special cap called the widow’s limit applies. Your benefit can’t be more than the larger of what the deceased was receiving or 82.5% of their full benefit. Social Security’s operations manual gives this example: a worker received a reduced $350 on a full benefit of $374.90 and died; 82.5% of the full benefit is $309.20, so the widow’s benefit is $350.

The widow’s limit changes the timing decision. Say the deceased claimed at 62 and received 70% of a $2,400 full benefit, $1,680. The limit is 82.5%, or $1,980. With a survivor full retirement age of 67, you reach 82.5% at about 62 and 8 months, and waiting longer adds nothing: your benefit stays at $1,980 whether you start at 63 or 67.

Children and a parent caring for children

A child of the deceased can receive 75% of the worker’s full benefit if the child is unmarried and under 18, under 19 and still in high school, or any age with a disability that began before 22.

A surviving spouse who is caring for the worker’s child under 16 or disabled can get a mother’s or father’s benefit of 75% at any age, with no reduction for age. It stops when the youngest child turns 16, unless the child is disabled, and you can switch to a widow’s or widower’s benefit from 60. A dependent parent of the worker can receive 82.5%, or 75% each if two parents qualify.

The family maximum

Total benefits paid on one worker’s record are capped. For a worker who turns 62 or dies in 2027, Social Security’s family maximum formula allows 150% of the first $1,712 of the worker’s full benefit, 272% of the amount up to $2,471, 134% of the amount up to $3,223 and 175% above that. For 2026 the dollar amounts are $1,643, $2,371 and $3,093. The total usually works out to about 150% to 188% of the worker’s full benefit.

When the family’s benefits add up to more, each one is reduced proportionally. With a full benefit of $2,400, the 2026 formula gives a family maximum of about $4,483. A parent and two children would each be due $1,800, a total of $5,400, so each is cut to about $1,494. Benefits paid to an ex-spouse don’t count toward the family maximum and aren’t reduced by it.

Switching between your own benefit and the survivor benefit

If you also qualify for a retirement benefit of your own, you receive whichever is higher, not both. But you can choose the order. Social Security allows you to start with one and switch to the other later, which can mean more over your lifetime:

• If your own benefit will be larger, you can take the survivor benefit first and switch to your own when it is highest, as late as 70.
• If the survivor benefit is larger, you can take your own reduced retirement benefit from 62 and switch to the full survivor benefit at your survivor full retirement age.

This choice is available because deemed filing applies to retirement and spousal benefits, not to survivor benefits. Getting a copy of your own earnings record before you start the survivor benefit makes the later comparison easier.

Don’t wait past 70 to start your own benefit. Delayed retirement credits stop at 70, so later months add only cost-of-living increases, and a late application can be paid back for only six months. If you’ve been widowed twice, you can’t combine the two records: you get the higher survivor benefit, or your own benefit if that’s higher still.

Who qualifies

• Marriage length: generally at least 9 months, with exceptions such as an accidental death or a death in military service. A divorced spouse qualifies after a marriage of at least 10 years.
• Age: 60 or older, 50 to 59 with a qualifying disability, or any age while caring for the worker’s child under 16 or disabled.
• Remarriage: remarrying at 60 or later (50 or later with a qualifying disability) doesn’t stop survivor benefits. Remarrying earlier generally ends them while the marriage lasts.

The Government Pension Offset, which used to cut survivor benefits for people with a pension from work not covered by Social Security, such as many teachers and city or state workers, ended under the Social Security Fairness Act for benefits payable from January 2024. If you never applied because the offset would have wiped out the survivor benefit, you may need to apply now.

Other things that affect the amount

• Working: if you are under full retirement age, the earnings test holds back $1 for every $2 you earn above $24,480 in 2026 ($25,560 in 2027). It uses your full retirement age for retirement benefits, not the earlier survivor full retirement age. A child’s earnings affect only the child’s benefit.
• Cost-of-living increases: survivor benefits rise with each year’s COLA, 3.6% in 2027.
• Taxes: survivor benefits can be partly taxable if your other income is high enough. A child’s benefits are counted as the child’s income.

How to apply

If you were already getting spousal benefits on the worker’s record, Social Security switches them to survivor benefits automatically once it learns of the death. Otherwise you need to apply; there’s no online application for survivor benefits, so call 1-800-772-1213 to apply by phone or set an appointment at a local office, and have the death certificate, the worker’s Social Security number and your marriage or birth records ready. After a death you also need to report it and return any payment for the month of death.