Question: My husband of eight years is 79 and I am 59. His previous wife died after 10 years of marriage in 1988. It never occurred to him to file for widower’s benefits, and he began taking his own retirement benefits at age 68. He earned substantially more during his career than did I. Could it benefit us now if he were to file for widower’s benefits? Would he be required to suspend his retirement benefits?
Answer: Because your husband remarried after reaching age 60, he can certainly file for a divorced widows benefit. But he’ll get the larger of either his own retirement benefit and his widows benefit. If he was the higher earner, chances are his own benefit is the larger of the two and that he won’t be able to collect anything off his deceased ex’s work record. You can’t suspend your own retirement benefit after age 70. And suspending it, were it even allowed at his age, would reduce his remaining lifetime benefits.
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