Losing a spouse in your early 60s upends nearly everything, including a retirement plan built around two paychecks. For a ...

A widow at 60 walks into the Social Security office a few weeks after her husband’s funeral. He had been collecting $3,200 per month at his full retirement age (FRA) of 67. She’s told survivor ...

Q: I understand paying benefits to widows. But I don’t understand paying benefits to divorcees. A woman who is divorced is not a widow. She is an ex-wife. So why does she have a claim to her ...

When a spouse dies, many widows assume that Social Security will automatically pay them the highest benefit available. That assumption is understandable, but it isn't always true. In reality, eligible ...

For decades, a particular kind of federal widow learned to live with a strange arithmetic: her late husband paid into Social ...

Q: My husband died several months ago. I'm 64. I'm getting my own retirement benefits, and he was getting his own benefits. His Social Security check was more than mine, so I think I am due widow's ...