Survivor benefit higher than deceased spouse?

[BusterMcTaco]

My father recently died, and my mother was apparently on his spousal SSA benefit, so they've sent her a letter letting her know what her payment amount will be. It's precisely 9.25% higher than my father's benefit was. How can this be? I thought maybe it was the COLA adjustment but that happened in January, and wasn't 9.25% anyway...

She is well past FRA.

[pizzy]

My father recently died, and my mother was apparently on his spousal SSA benefit, so they've sent her a letter letting her know what her payment amount will be. It's precisely 9.25% higher than my father's benefit was. How can this be? I thought maybe it was the COLA adjustment but that happened in January, and wasn't 9.25% anyway...

She is well past FRA.

Is that the change on the gross amount? Or did the net amount go up 9.25%?

If net, could medicare premiums or tax withholding be different?

[goodenyou]

One-time lump sum death payment of $255.00?

[BusterMcTaco]

Is that the change on the gross amount? Or did the net amount go up 9.25%?

If net, could medicare premiums or tax withholding be different?

Good question. I can only see the net amount posted to their bank account (SSA shut down his SSA online account--I get it, but damn annoying). I suppose it's possible that there is a deduction from gross, but it's weird that net/gross is exactly 1.0925. gross/net is not a round number. If there's a withholding it's either a weird percentage or very coincidental. Unless they round up to the nearest dollar, in which case it could indeed by an 8.5% withholding and the precise 9.25% increase is a sheer coincidence.

One-time lump sum death payment of $255.00?

No, the letter says this is her monthly benefit. I don't know when that will be deposited, but I presume separately.

[Parkinglotracer]

Survivors benefits can be higher than the primary spouses benefit because the survivors benefit is guaranteed to be 82.5% of the primary earners PIA and the primary earner may have taken it early and is receiving less than 82.5% of their PIA amount.

I took SS early. My wife’s survivors benefit is more than my benefit.

Someone said SS does it that way to not penalize the lower earning spouse for their partner taking SS early.

I am glad my spouse gets more when I die. We have been married 39 years and she deserves it.

Very confusing but all detailed by open social security.com

You’d think I was drinking when I wrote this but I am not. Lol. Trying to understand SS could make one drink.

[BusterMcTaco]

So now that I actually got access to the letter, it turns out that it is indeed because of the Medicare premium deductions. 9.25% was a total coincidence.

[MathWizard]

Survivors benefits can be higher than the primary spouses benefit because the survivors benefit is guaranteed to be 82.5% of the primary earners PIA and the primary earner may have taken it early and is receiving less than 82.5% of their PIA amount.

I took SS early. My wife’s survivors benefit is more than my benefit.

Someone said SS does it that way to not penalize the lower earning spouse for their partner taking SS early.

I am glad my spouse gets more when I die. We have been married 39 years and she deserves it.

Very confusing but all detailed by open social security.com

You’d think I was drinking when I wrote this but I am not. Lol. Trying to understand SS could make one drink.

Would you point me at ssa.gov reference for this?
I've never heard of this, and cannot find it in the SSA website.

Thanks.

[pizzy]

So now that I actually got access to the letter, it turns out that it is indeed because of the Medicare premium deductions. 9.25% was a total coincidence.

Point for me! Glad you figured it out.

[chickadee]

Here’s a reference that talks about the 82.5%. It’s news to me as well and only applies if deceased worker took SSA early. “If the deceased worker didn't receive reduced retirement benefits prior to FRA, then the RIB-LIM formula isn't considered when calculating survivor benefit rates payable on their record.”

https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/wh ... efits-come

Here’s the link to the SSN calculator. Have fun with the acronyms!

https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0300615320

[BusterMcTaco]

A bit off-topic but it's annoying that SSA rounds down to the nearest dollar, as opposed to rounding up from .50-.99. Cheap bastards

Of course, it's even more annoying that you don't get benefits the last month you are alive. My dad died on the 29th, and my mom now has to return his April benefit (admittedly paid in May, but still). They could at least prorate!

[Parkinglotracer]

Survivors benefits can be higher than the primary spouses benefit because the survivors benefit is guaranteed to be 82.5% of the primary earners PIA and the primary earner may have taken it early and is receiving less than 82.5% of their PIA amount.

I took SS early. My wife’s survivors benefit is more than my benefit.

Someone said SS does it that way to not penalize the lower earning spouse for their partner taking SS early.

I am glad my spouse gets more when I die. We have been married 39 years and she deserves it.

Very confusing but all detailed by open social security.com

You’d think I was drinking when I wrote this but I am not. Lol. Trying to understand SS could make one drink.

Would you point me at ssa.gov reference for this?
I've never heard of this, and cannot find it in the SSA website.

Thanks.

You can search my old posts on forum and read how it was explained to me. I will see if I can find it.

[Parkinglotracer]

viewtopic.php?p=7153387&hilit=Social+security#p7153387


Found it.

[Chip Munk]

A bit off-topic but it's annoying that SSA rounds down to the nearest dollar, as opposed to rounding up from .50-.99. Cheap bastards

According to a few articles I've read, the changes to the rounding rules were enacted in 1982 to shore up Social Security. They changed the policy to round down to the nearest dime in their calculations and down to the nearest dollar in the final benefit.

If you're interested, this section of the POMS shows the rules prior to and after the rounding changes: https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0300601020

[grampy]

A bit off-topic but it's annoying that SSA rounds down to the nearest dollar, as opposed to rounding up from .50-.99. Cheap bastards

Of course, it's even more annoying that you don't get benefits the last month you are alive. My dad died on the 29th, and my mom now has to return his April benefit (admittedly paid in May, but still). They could at least prorate!

You need to know or remember what happened the first month Dad applied for benefits. SSA credits the full month regardless of date of birth. So birthday could be 28 June, but a full months benefit would arrive in July. SSA always pays "in arrears", and does not prorate.