How does Social Security work when a spouse dies?

When a Social Security beneficiary dies, their surviving spouse is eligible for survivor benefits. Nearly 3.7 million widows and widowers, including some divorced from late beneficiaries, were receiving survivor benefits as of February 2025.

A surviving spouse can collect 100 percent of the late spouse’s benefit if the survivor has reached full retirement age, but the amount will be lower if the deceased spouse claims benefits before reaching full retirement age. (Full retirement age for survivor benefits differs from that for retirement and spousal benefits; it is 66 and 4 months for surviving spouses born in 1958, 66 and 6 months for those born in 1959, and gradually increasing to 67 over the next few years.)

If you were already receiving spousal benefits on your mate’s work record, Social Security will in most cases switch you automatically to survivor benefits when their death is reported. Otherwise, you will need to apply. Call the Social Security Administration (SSA) at 800-772-1213 to schedule an appointment to file your claim.

In most cases, a widow or widower qualifies for survivor benefits if he or she is at least 60 and wasmarried to the deceased for at least nine months at the time of death. There are a few exceptions to those requirements:

• If the late spouse’s death was accidental or occurred in the line of U.S. military duty, there’s no length-of-marriage requirement.
• You can apply for survivor benefits as early as age 50 if you have a disability that occurred within seven years of your spouse’s death.
• If you care for children from the marriage who are under 16 or have a disability, you can apply at any age.

Whether you have wed again can also affect eligibility. If the remarriage took place before you turned 60 (50 if you have a disability), you cannot draw survivor benefits. You regain eligibility if that marriage ends. And there is no effect on eligibility for survivor benefits if you remarry at or past those ages.