This Social Security mistake can put your spouse at higher risk of poverty when you die

By Robert Powell

Many couples don't realize the importance of claiming decisions until it's too late

Experts say it is common for household income to drop between 33% and 50% when the first spouse dies.

Often, married couples make Social Security claiming decisions as if each spouse were acting alone. The higher earner - often the husband and the spouse who is more likely to die first - claims benefits with little thought to what that choice will mean for the survivor.

That approach can be costly.

When the higher earner treats Social Security as a household decision rather than an individual one, the surviving spouse is far less likely to suffer a severe financial setback after widowhood, a new paper by Sita Slavov, a distinguished professor of public policy at George Mason University's Schar School, found.

In "The Impact of Spousal Social Security Claiming Decisions on the Financial Shock of Widowhood," Slavov points out that when husbands delay claiming Social Security, the larger monthly benefit they lock in carries over to their wives as a survivor benefit. That higher payment can cushion the sharp income drop many women experience after a spouse dies - a drop that helps explain why roughly one in 10 women age 65 and older live in poverty.

Under Social Security rules, a surviving lower earner generally replaces their own individual benefit with the deceased spouse's benefit. If the higher earner waits to claim - say, until age 70 - that larger check continues for the rest of the survivor's life.

The difference matters. After a husband's death, household income often falls abruptly as two Social Security checks are reduced to only one. Widows whose husbands waited until full retirement age or later still faced income declines, Slavov found, but their risk of severe financial distress was lower.

It is common for household income to drop between 33% and 50% when the first spouse dies, said Marcia Mantell, president of Mantell Retirement Consulting.

Each year of delayed claiming by the husband reduced a widow's likelihood of falling into the poorest 5% of older Americans by about 12%, with the strongest protection occurring in the first few years after her husband's death.

Notably, the benefit of delayed claiming shows up less in higher average income and more in reduced downside risk, lowering the chance that widowhood pushes someone into deep financial trouble.

Think survivor insurance, not current income

A surviving spouse typically needs about three-quarters of the couple's pre-widowhood income to maintain a similar standard of living, after accounting for some shared expenses that disappear and others that remain fixed, according to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.

But losing one of two Social Security checks does not automatically leave the survivor with 75% of the income they need. That mismatch helps explain why many widows experience a sharp financial shock, even when household income appeared adequate before a spouse died.

For that reason, planners say couples should think of the higher earner's claiming decision as survivor insurance, not simply a current income choice. Delaying benefits is not just about maximizing lifetime payouts. It can provide meaningful longevity and income protection for the lower-earning spouse.

"Social Security claiming is not just a retirement-income decision, it's a survivor-risk decision," said Dean Tsantes, a certified financial planner at VLP Financial Advisors. "For married couples, the higher earner's benefit functions as lifetime insurance for the surviving spouse, setting the income floor at the moment vulnerability is highest."

Why the higher earner's decision matters more

Delaying matters more for the primary earner than the secondary earner because of how survivor benefits work, Slavov explains in her paper. When a primary earner delays, the higher benefit is effectively paid as a joint-and-survivor annuity that continues as long as either spouse is alive. By contrast, delays by a secondary earner function as a first-to-die annuity that ends when either spouse dies.

Both are priced the same under Social Security rules, making the delayed claim by the higher earner far more valuable for household security.

Delay, even when the choice is uncomfortable

In households where cash flow is tight, the temptation for the higher earner may be to claim Social Security early to preserve retirement assets. Slavov acknowledges that this strategy can help in the short run. But her findings show that it does not fully offset the higher poverty risk widows face later.

In practice, planners say the study reinforces strategies that favor delaying by the higher earner - even if that means drawing from savings or relying first on the lower earner's benefit - to reduce the financial shock of widowhood.

Focus on the early years of widowhood

The protective effect of delayed claiming is strongest in the early years after a spouse dies, when income drops suddenly and adjustments are hardest. That timing matters. Households should stress-test budgets and liquidity needs for the immediate post-widowhood period, when survivor benefits replace two Social Security checks with one.

Those pressures may be compounded in the years ahead by Medicare costs, according to Mantell. Income-related Part B premiums have expanded steadily over time, and many planners expect higher surcharges to persist for decades. For widows living primarily on Social Security, those premiums can further erode monthly cash flow just as income flexibility is shrinking.

This research reinforces a simple but often overlooked point: When the higher earner delays Social Security, the payoff is not just a bigger check later. It is a lower risk of poverty, greater income stability and less dependence on public assistance for the surviving spouse.

-Robert Powell

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01-30-26 1000ET