When you attend your appointment at your local SSA office, the representative will be typing in a lot of information into her computer. The computer will calculate your survivor benefits based on several different factors.

It's important that you know what those numbers/factors are so that you can make an educated decision about if/when to collect survivor benefits.

If you haven't attended an appointment yet, make sure to ask specifically for the following numbers. If you've already attended your appointment, please call back and ask for these specific numbers:

• Your spouse’s Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) 

• Your Family Maximum Benefit (FMB) 

• Your spouse’s Full Retirement Age (FRA) 

• Your Full Retirement Age (FRA)

Primary Insurance Amount (PIA)

The PIA is the benefit your spouse would have received at his Full Retirement Age (FRA).  The PIA will determine your children’s benefits, your widow child-in-care benefit (should you elect this) and the widow survivor benefits you can claim starting at age 60 if you remain unmarried.

Family Maximum Benefit (FMB)

Social Security limits the amount of money it pays to families for survivor benefits. The FMB is determined as part of every social security benefit calculation. 

The FMB can range from 150 to 180 percent of the PIA or full benefit amount. However, if the total amount payable to all family members exceeds the FMB limit, each person’s benefit is reduced until the total amount equals the maximum allowed.

You need to know this number because everyone’s benefit amount could increase or decrease based on how many are receiving benefits and what amount is allowed for your family.

For example, if a widow with three kids under age 16 are all receiving benefits, their FMB will most likely be reached, therefore splitting the benefit amount equally between four people.

But once the first child reaches 18 and is no longer eligible to receive a child survivor benefit, the calculation can be redistributed between the three remaining family members. Each remaining family member’s benefit could increase if all three benefits remain below the FMB.

Your benefit numbers worksheet

I recommend asking a SSA representative the numbers for both your widow survivor benefit and retirement benefit at ages 60, 62, 67 and 70. 

When you’re nearing retirement age, these numbers will help you determine whether you take a widow survivor benefit or a retirement benefit first. 

Download this Social Security Numbers You Need to Know document to keep track of your important benefit numbers. You can keep this document in your binder and refer to it when making decsions about which benefits to apply for and when.

You'll find this document under the Downloads section below.

This worksheet is editable which means you can enter/edit data right from your computer.

Or simply download, print, and fill out by hand.