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Your spouse's claiming decision becomes your check — and the one Social Security switch that still works is yours.
Survivor benefits follow a different and more generous rulebook than spousal benefits: a widow or widower can collect up to 100% of what the worker received, starting as early as 60 — and at 60 the amount is always exactly 71.5% of the base, no matter when you were born, because the reduction schedule flexes to make that number constant. The base has protections both directions: if the worker claimed early, the widow's-limit floor raises the survivor base to the greater of their reduced check or 82.5% of their PIA; if the worker delayed to 70, every delayed credit passes through — the survivor inherits 124%. The strategy most people miss: survivor claims are exempt from deemed filing, so a 60-year-old widow can take a reduced survivor benefit while her own benefit accrues 8% a year to 70, then switch — the last legal double-dip in the system. This calculator computes the exact survivor amount at any claiming age, applies the floor, and compares the switch strategy.
Widows and widowers use it in the first planning pass after a death: claiming at 60 locks in 71.5% of the base forever, the 82.5%-of-PIA floor repairs a spouse's early claiming, and the survivor switch — reduced survivor now, own maxed benefit at 70 — is the last legal double-dip.
Not fully — the widow's limit (RIB LIM) protects you. Your survivor base is the GREATER of what they were actually receiving or 82.5% of their PIA. If their 62-claim cut a $2,600 PIA to $1,820, your base is $2,145 — the floor — not $1,820. The other direction works too: if they delayed to 70, you inherit the full $3,224 including every delayed credit. This is why the higher earner delaying is really a couple's decision — the bigger check becomes the survivor's check for life.
Yes — this is the one place the old switching strategies survive. Survivor claims are exempt from the deemed-filing rule that killed "claim now, switch later" for retirement and spousal benefits. The play: claim the reduced survivor benefit at 60 (71.5% of base), let your own retirement benefit grow 8% a year to 70, then switch if yours is bigger. Or the reverse if your own is smaller: claim yours early, let the survivor benefit ripen to your survivor FRA. Run both orders — the calculator above shows the comparison.
It depends entirely on when. Remarry before 60 and you lose eligibility on the deceased spouse's record (unless that later marriage ends). Remarry at 60 or later — 50 if disabled — and you keep the survivor benefit in full. Divorced surviving spouses qualify on the same schedule if the marriage lasted at least 10 years. Also worth knowing: survivor benefits before FRA are subject to the earnings test if you're still working, and children of the deceased can draw their own benefits until 18 (19 in school) — a separate check that doesn't reduce yours dollar-for-dollar, subject to the family maximum.