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Do Surviving Spouse Benefits Include Delayed Retirement Credits (DRCs)?

delayed retirement credits (drc) hey marc! primary insurance amount (pia) spousal benefits Oct 13, 2021

I understood that surviving spouse benefits include any Delayed Retirement Credits (DRCs) earned by the deceased. However, I found information online stating that if a person dies before age 70 after delaying benefits past Full Retirement Age, the surviving spouse only receives benefits based on the deceased's Primary Insurance Amount (PIA), without DRCs. Is this correct?

The information you found is incorrect. When a person delays taking their Social Security benefits beyond their Full Retirement Age (FRA), they earn Delayed Retirement Credits (DRCs), which increase their Primary Insurance Amount (PIA). If the individual dies before age 70, the surviving spouse is entitled to receive a benefit based on the deceased's PIA, including any DRCs earned up to the time of death.

However, the confusion might stem from the fact that the surviving spouse does not continue to earn additional DRCs after the deceased's death. The benefit the surviving spouse receives is calculated based on the "death PIA," which reflects the PIA plus any DRCs earned by the deceased up until their death. This ensures that the surviving spouse benefits from the increased amount due to the delayed retirement, but they do not accumulate further DRCs beyond that point.

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