Question 1

I was a stay at home mother and did not work outside the home. My husband has passed away and I am disabled. Can I qualify for benefits on his earning record?

Accepted Answer

Possibly. If your husband was collecting SSD before he passed away, you were married to him for at least one year, you are 60 or older and you became disabled between the ages of 50-60 then you may be eligible for disabled widow’s benefits. These benefits may be significantly higher than drawing benefits on your own record, so you should definitely consider pursuing these benefits. With that said, we should note that even if your particular situation does not match this one, there are a lot of benefit options to explore including divorced spouse’s survivors benefits, spouse’s survivors benefits, spouse’s retirement benefits, mother’s or father’s benefits, etc.

Question 2

I was a stay at home mother and did not work outside the home. My husband has passed away and I am disabled. Can I qualify for benefits on his earning record?

Accepted Answer

Possibly. If your husband was collecting SSD before he passed away, you were married to him for at least one year, you are 60 or older and you became disabled between the ages of 50-60 then you may be eligible for disabled widow’s benefits. These benefits may be significantly higher than drawing benefits on your own record, so you should definitely consider pursuing these benefits. With that said, we should note that even if your particular situation does not match this one, there are a lot of benefit options to explore including divorced spouse’s survivors benefits, spouse’s survivors benefits, spouse’s retirement benefits, mother’s or father’s benefits, etc.