Survivor Benefit Timing Calculator
Rules from 20 CFR 404 · reviewed September 6, 2026
Helps a widow or widower choose which Social Security benefit to take first, and when to switch. AboutLess
In plain words. A surviving spouse can claim a survivor benefit based on the late spouse's record, or their own retirement benefit, but not both at once. Each can be taken early at a reduction or later at its full amount, and you can take one first and switch to the other when it has grown. This tool compares the two orders over a lifetime and finds the age at which one pulls ahead.
Why it matters. Taken in the right order, the two benefits can pay tens of thousands more than taken in the wrong one, and the choice is rarely explained at the Social Security office.
An example. A widow born in 1964 whose late husband's full benefit was $2,800 and whose own is $2,200: taking the survivor benefit at 60 and switching to her own at 70 pays about $898,000 through age 90, against about $868,000 the other way around.
Where it stops. It uses today's dollars and whole-year claiming ages, and assumes the late spouse had not started benefits early. It ignores the earnings test if you still work, tax, and remarriage before 60, which ends the survivor benefit. Everything it leaves out.
What they would have received each month at their full retirement age, which Social Security calls the primary insurance amount. It is on their benefit statement or award letter.
The full retirement age amount on your own Social Security statement, in today's dollars.
Your full retirement age for the survivor benefit is 67. For your own benefit it is 67.
The age the totals run to. A longer life favors the order that ends on the larger check.
- Survivor benefit per month if taken at 60
- $2,002
- It would be $2,800 a month if you waited until 67
- Your own benefit per month if taken at 62
- $1,540
- It grows to $2,728 a month if you wait until 70
- Gap between the two orders through age 90
- $29,688
- In today's dollars, before any tax
Social Security pays only the larger of the two benefits at any one time, but you choose the order. You can take one benefit now and let the other keep growing. The survivor benefit stops growing at your survivor full retirement age. Your own benefit keeps growing until 70. So the usual answer is to take first whichever benefit will be the smaller one at its best, then switch when the larger one has fully grown.
This follows the Social Security rules for reducing a survivor benefit taken early, and for reducing or increasing your own benefit by the age you claim it. It uses today's dollars with no cost-of-living increases, and it leaves out the earnings test before full retirement age, income tax, and remarriage. It also assumes your late spouse had not claimed early (if they had, the survivor benefit is capped at the larger of their reduced amount or 82.5% of their full amount). Educational, not advice.
This is a simplified model, not your actual tax return or plan. It only knows what you type in, leaves out rules that may apply to you, and cannot weigh the other facts and trade-offs a real decision depends on. Before you act, talk with a professional who knows your whole situation.
Educational only, not investment, tax, or legal advice. Results are hypothetical estimates that vary with each use and over time and are not guaranteed accurate or complete. Using this tool creates no client relationship with Considerate Capital, and the site that linked here is not affiliated with it. By using it you agree to the tool terms.