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Choose Your Starting Benefit Amount
Use a known unreduced survivor amount from Social Security when available, or use the guided worker-record estimate.
Estimate a Social Security widow or widower survivor benefit based on your survivor full retirement age, the age you plan to start benefits, and the deceased worker benefit information you have available.
A surviving spouse can generally begin age-based Social Security survivor benefits at age 60. A disabled surviving spouse may qualify as early as age 50, and a spouse caring for an entitled child can be subject to different rules. This calculator intentionally focuses on nondisabled widow and widower benefits beginning at age 60.
The survivor benefit can be reduced when it begins before survivor full retirement age. The maximum age reduction for a nondisabled widow or widower who starts at age 60 is 28.5%, which produces a benefit equal to 71.5% of the applicable unreduced survivor amount before other limits or adjustments.
Survivor full retirement age is not always the same schedule used for retirement benefits. The survivor FRA schedule gradually increases from age 65 to age 67, and people born on January 1 use the prior birth year when determining survivor FRA.
The calculator first determines your survivor FRA, then measures how many months your selected start age falls before FRA, applies the survivor reduction formula, and checks the deceased worker's early-retirement limit when that rule is relevant.
Use a known unreduced survivor amount from Social Security when available, or use the guided worker-record estimate.
Your birth date is used to determine the widow or widower full retirement age that applies to survivor benefits.
The reduction is prorated by the number of months before survivor FRA so that starting at age 60 produces the maximum 28.5% reduction.
If the deceased worker started retirement early, the calculator checks the higher of 82.5% of PIA or the worker's reduced benefit amount as the applicable limit.
Assume a surviving spouse was born May 15, 1961, has an unreduced survivor amount of $3,200.00, and wants survivor benefits to begin at age 62.
If the worker received reduced retirement benefits, the widow or widower benefit can be limited. The applicable limit is generally the higher of 82.5% of the worker's death PIA or the reduced amount the worker would be receiving if alive.
Delayed retirement credits earned by the deceased worker can increase the survivor benefit. If the worker died after FRA without filing, a PIA-only estimate can understate the amount.
Survivor and retirement benefits are not simply added together. A person may be able to take one benefit first and switch to the other later, depending on eligibility and which strategy produces the better result.
Social Security's earnings test can temporarily withhold some benefits when you are below the applicable full retirement age and have earnings above the annual limit. This calculator does not apply the earnings test.
A family maximum can affect survivor payments when multiple people receive benefits on the same worker's record. This calculator does not determine a family maximum adjustment.
Disabled widow or widower benefits, child-in-care benefits, surviving divorced spouse benefits, and dependent child or parent benefits have additional eligibility and calculation rules.
This Social Security Survivor Benefit Calculator and the information on this page are provided for general educational purposes only. They are not an official Social Security determination and should not be treated as legal, tax, financial, or individualized advice. Actual survivor eligibility and benefit amounts are governed by Social Security law, regulations, and the facts in the deceased worker's and survivor's records. Benefit amounts and program rules can change. Confirm your specific situation with the Social Security Administration before making a claiming decision.