Denton County Living Well Magazine Fall 2015 | Page 25

Factoring Social Security Survivor Benefits into Retirement

A

Courtesy Barlow Capital Advisors, Dan and R. Brennan Barlow

lthough there’s a great deal
of speculation these days
surrounding the future of
Social Security, we know
many Americans have factored Social Security benefits into their
retirement plans.

If you have a family, Social Security also
provides dependent benefits to surviving
spouses (and ex-spouses), surviving children and, in some cases, surviving parents. Here are some good things to know
if you or your loved ones fit into one of
these categories.

disabled). A surviving divorced spouse
may draw a benefit at any age if taking
care of a child who is younger than 16
years or disabled. The 10-year durationof-marriage requirement does not apply
to child-in-care benefits.
Surviving children. An unmarried
surviving child can draw benefits while
younger than 18, and between age 18
and 19 if still a full-time high school student. An unmarried disabled adult child
may be able to draw survivor benefits if
under a disability that began before the
child turned 22 years old.

Surviving spouses. If you were married to your deceased spouse for at least
nine months and you are not remarried,
you may begin to draw Social Security
benefits as early age 60 (age 50 if you
are disabled). If you are taking care of
a child who is younger than 16 or disabled, there is no minimum age requirement. The nine-month duration-of-marriage requirement may be waived under
certain circumstances.

Surviving parents. As a surviving
parent, you may be able to draw a survivor benefit based on your deceased
child’s Social Security work history. To
qualify, you must be at least age 62, and
you must have been dependent on your
deceased child for at least one-half of
your support.

Surviving ex-spouses. If you were
married to the deceased for at least ten
years and you are not remarried, you
may begin to draw Social Security benefits as early as age 60 (age 50 if you are

• Children, and spouses who have
a child-in-care, may each draw a
benefit up to 75% of the deceased
worker’s Social Se