In early 2021, two years after my husband died, while the Covid pandemic was in full swing and the world was waiting on vaccines, I was completely overwhelmed and stressed out at work and obsessed with the thought that I was running out of time with my daughter, who was ten at the time. So I decided to quit my job. I felt like I needed to spend more time with my daughter, while she still wanted to hang out with me, and to rethink my career. I ended up not working for seven months and, thanks to Social Security’s “Special Earnings Limit Rule,” I received survivor benefits for six of those months. I had heard about this little known rule from a friend and applied for survivor benefits several months after I quit.

This is how survivor benefits work:
Normally, the Social Security Administration (SSA) will pay you full survivor benefits as long as your spouse would’ve qualified for Social Security benefits and you earn under a certain amount per year. If you are under full retirement age (age 67 if you are born after 1960), the limit of how much you can earn is $22,320 in 2024. For every $2 you earn over that limit, they then deduct $1 from your survivor benefits. How much you receive in survivor benefits depends on your spouse’s lifetime earnings. This, in turn, drives how much you can earn per year and still receive some amount of survivor benefits. That is called your yearly earnings limit amount.

Now, the first year that you apply for survivor benefits, you may have already earned more than your yearly earnings limit if you apply mid year. This is where the Special Earnings Limit Rule comes into play. For that first year, if you are under age 67 for the whole year, the SSA will pay you a full Social Security benefit for any whole month in which you earn $1,850 or less, regardless of your yearly earnings. If you turn 67 that year, you can earn $4,960 or less in any month and receive a full Social Security benefit that month. The Special Earnings Limit Rule also has a condition that you cannot perform “substantial services in self-employment,” defined as devoting more than 45 hours a month to the business or between 15 and 45 hours to a business in a highly skilled occupation.

Here’s an example of how the Special Earnings Limit Rule works:
Jane is a 45-year-old widow and, by the time she quits her job at the end of September 2024, she has already earned $50,000 that year. She starts a new job in February 2025 which pays her $75,000 per year. Due to the Special Earnings Limit Rule, she should receive a full Social Security survivor benefit for the months of October, November and December since she earned nothing during those months. However, she would not receive survivor benefits in January because the Special Earnings Limit Rule only applies to the first year. Starting the second year, the yearly annual limit amount applies.

Let’s see how the Special Earnings Limit Rule worked for me:
While I didn’t earn income for seven full months, I only received survivor benefits for six months because in October 2021, I received a letter from the SSA stating that I had earned over my yearly annual limit that year and needed to pay back the survivor benefits that I received. So, although I was approved for survivor benefits due to the Special Earnings Limit Rule when I applied in August or September (my first check contained 5 or 6 months of back benefits), whoever wrote the letter requesting repayment or the logic that auto generated the letter didn’t take the rule into account.

When I called the SSA about the letter, the customer service rep initially stated that I needed to pay back the survivor benefits until I reminded her of the Special Earnings Limit Rule. She then said someone must’ve made a mistake in sending me the letter and I should file an appeal. So I filed an appeal. That was more than two years ago. I still have not received any official confirmation that I can keep the survivor benefits, nor did I ever receive the seventh month of benefits that I am still due. I’ve called several times since then and have been told that my appeal was still in progress but that I was correctly awarded survivor benefits. I’ve given up on receiving survivor benefits for that seventh month, but would still like an official letter stating I don’t have to pay anything back.

What’s the takeaway?
The takeaway is NOT that you shouldn’t bother applying for survivor benefits because you might be mistakenly asked to pay them back. Rather, Social Security is complicated and even some SSA employees may not fully understand all the rules. Call or make an appointment with the SSA. Whether or not the customer service rep sounds knowledgeable, consider calling again and see if someone else gives you the same answer about what benefits you are due. And don’t forget that the SSA will never come knocking at your door to pay you survivor benefits; you need to apply for them.

Update on 8/21/24: More than 2.5 years after filing my appeal, I finally received the missing month of survivor benefits!

Disclaimer: Social Security rules are incredibly complicated. I am not an expert on Social Security, so please call the SSA to find out if you qualify for survivor benefits.