benefit), and she gets that benefit as a dependent child until she turns 18. If Johnny dies at age 66, Larissa can also get a benefit, even though she’s only 36 years old. As a young surviving spouse who is caring for the deceased worker’s dependent child, she gets a monthly payment of $1,233. The SSA applies different time limits to some of the family benefits that involve children. In the preceding example, the money Larissa gets as Janniva’s mother ends when her daughter turns 16.
Surviving the Loss of a Breadwinner
Social Security isn’t just about retirement – it also protects Americans when a family breadwinner dies. You can think of these protections as life insurance that helps families carry on when their livelihood has been shattered. Social Security pays benefits to almost 2 million children whose parents have died. Survivor benefits also go to more than 6 million widows, widowers, and elderly parents who had depended on the deceased worker for financial support.
Benefits may be higher for survivors than for those who depend on a living retiree. In cases of multiple beneficiaries, the family maximum may kick in, limiting payments to about 150 percent to 180 percent of the late worker’s primary insurance amount (see the nearby sidebar “Social Security’s benchmark for benefits: The primary insurance amount”). When that happens, benefits going to dependents are reduced proportionately.
In this section, I fill you in on who qualifies for survivor benefits and how the breadwinner may earn those benefits before he or she dies.
SOCIAL SECURITY’S BENCHMARK FOR BENEFITS: THE PRIMARY INSURANCE AMOUNT
The primary insurance amount (PIA) is a dollar figure that becomes the basis for benefits that go to you and your family members. The PIA is what you get if you begin collecting Social Security at your full retirement age (currently 66, and gradually increasing to 67 for workers born in 1960 or later). To determine your PIA, the SSA looks at your past earnings and adjusts them upward to reflect today’s wage levels. The SSA then goes through a series of mathematical steps and arrives at your PIA.
For an average wage earner, a PIA is around $1,636 per month (as of 2016), although it can be significantly more for high wage earners. You can get a rough idea of your PIA – and get an idea of other potential benefits – by using Social Security’s online tools and projecting benefits at your full retirement age: Check out the Social Security Quick Calculator (www.ssa.gov/oact/quickcalc) and the Retirement Estimator (www.ssa.gov/estimator).
Your actual Social Security benefits may be lower or higher than the PIA for various reasons, but they will be based on it. Here are some examples of benefits and their link to the PIA:
● Retired worker: You get 100 percent of your PIA if you retire at the full retirement age. You can start collecting as early as age 62, but the amount you receive per month is reduced if you collect before the full retirement age and increased if you delay collecting until after the full retirement age (up to age 70).
● Disabled worker: You get 100 percent of your PIA. The benefit isn’t reduced for age and automatically switches to a retirement benefit when you reach full retirement age.
● Spouse of retiree or disabled worker: You get up to 50 percent of the covered worker’s PIA. You can start collecting at age 62, but the amount you receive is reduced if you collect before reaching full retirement age.
● Spouse with child: You get 50 percent of the covered worker’s PIA if the child is under 16 or disabled. You may be any age, and the benefit isn’t reduced if you collect before you reach full retirement age.
● Divorced spouse: You get up to 50 percent of the covered worker’s PIA. You can start collecting at 62, but the amount you receive is reduced if you collect before reaching full retirement age. A couple of other rules: Your marriage must have lasted at least ten years and you must be unmarried.
● Widow/widower age 60-plus or divorced widow/widower age 60-plus: You get up to 100 percent or more of the covered worker’s PIA, but the amount depends on several factors. It’s reduced if you collect before reaching full retirement age, and it’s increased if the deceased spouse had built up delayed retirement credits. The amount you receive per month can’t exceed what the deceased spouse was collecting.
● Widow/widower (usually younger than 60), caring for a child under 16: You get 75 percent of the covered worker’s PIA.
● Disabled widow/widower ages 50 to 59: You get 71.5 percent of the covered worker’s PIA.
● Child survivor under 18 (or up to age 19 if still in high school and unmarried): You get 75 percent of the covered worker’s PIA. The Social Security family maximum (see Chapter 10) may apply in households with multiple beneficiaries. Stepchildren and grandchildren fall into this category, too, subject to the family maximum.
● Child of retiree under 18 (or up to age 19 if still in high school and unmarried): You get 50 percent of the covered worker’s PIA. Stepchildren and grandchildren fall into this category, too, subject to the family maximum.
● Disabled adult child of retiree age 18-plus: You get 50 percent of the covered worker’s PIA.
● Disabled adult child of deceased worker age 18-plus: You get 75 percent of the covered worker’s PIA.
● Grandchild of retiree: You get 50 percent of the covered worker’s PIA (if you meet rules for eligibility).
● Grandchild of deceased worker/retiree: You get 75 percent of the covered worker’s PIA (if you meet rules for eligibility).
● Parents of deceased worker/retiree: You get 82.5 percent of the covered worker’s PIA if one parent is claiming benefits, 75 percent of the covered worker’s PIA if two parents are claiming benefits.
Survivor benefits can help a household get back on its feet after a death, providing long-term support to growing children, surviving spouses, and sometimes older parents of the worker. Here are the most common categories of relatives who may qualify for Social Security survivor benefits upon the death of a breadwinner:
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