In most cases, yes. If your husband or wife worked in the United States and paid Social Security taxes, you may be entitled to receive a monthly survivor's pension, and your minor children as well. To this can be added the employer's pension, life insurance, and other benefits that many families leave unclaimed because no one told them they existed.
The short answers before going into detail: you can collect starting at age 60 (earlier if you have a disability or care for minor children), you can collect even if you are divorced if the marriage lasted 10 years or more, you can collect without being a citizen, and the process has deadlines that it's best to move quickly on. All of that is explained below, step by step.
What is the survivor's pension
The survivor's pension is the monthly payment that Social Security delivers to the family of a deceased worker. It functions as an extension of the right the worker had already earned: each year of work with taxes paid accumulated credits, and those credits become benefits for your spouse, your children, and in some cases, your parents.
The family members who typically qualify are the surviving spouse, the ex-spouse of a marriage lasting 10 years or more, children under 18 years old (19 if still in high school), children of any age with a disability that began before age 22, and parents over 62 who were economically dependent on the deceased.
The agencies involved are mainly two: the Social Security Administration (SSA), which pays survivor benefits, and the administrator of the employer's pension or retirement plan, when one existed. If the death was related to military service, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is added, and if it occurred at work, the state's workers' compensation insurer.
Social Security survivor benefits
The SSA pays several types of benefit following the death of your spouse. The main one is the monthly surviving spouse's pension, which can reach 100% of what the worker received or would have received at full retirement age. There is also a one-time death payment of $255, and monthly benefits for children (75% of the worker's benefit each, with a family cap).
The amount depends on three factors: how much the worker earned during their lifetime (their income history defines the base benefit), the age at which you start collecting, and your family situation. If you wait until your full retirement age, you receive 100%. If you start at 60, you receive around 71.5%, with intermediate percentages between both ages.
Age stops mattering in two situations. If you have a disability, you can collect starting at 50. And if you are caring for a child of the deceased under 16 years old (or with a disability), you can collect at any age 75% of the benefit, as long as that care continues.
Keep in mind a strategy that few know about: the survivor's pension and your own retirement are separate benefits, and you can start with one and switch to the other. Many widows collect the survivor's pension starting at 60 and switch to their own retirement at 70, when it reaches its maximum. A ten-minute calculation can mean tens of thousands of dollars over a lifetime.
Who qualifies for Social Security benefits
Spouse
The surviving spouse qualifies if the marriage lasted at least 9 months (the requirement disappears if death was by accident) and if you are 60 years or older, 50 or older with a disability, or any age caring for a child under 16 or with a disability. Marriages celebrated outside the United States are valid the same way, as long as they are valid where they were celebrated.
Ex-spouse
The ex-spouse qualifies with the same age requirements if the marriage lasted 10 years or more. Your benefit is calculated separately and takes zero from the current spouse or the children: each one collects what is theirs.
Children
Children qualify up to age 18 (19 if they are in high school), and children with a disability that began before age 22 qualify for life. This includes adopted children and, under certain conditions, stepchildren and grandchildren who were dependent on the deceased.
A point that stops many Hispanic families and has a clear answer: you can receive benefits without being a citizen. What the SSA requires is that the worker contributed with a valid Social Security number and that whoever collects has legal presence in the United States or complies with the rules for payment abroad, which are explained below.
Documents of your relationship and identity
Before calling the SSA, gather what you can from this list. The lack of any document should never stop you: the SSA can help obtain several, and what matters is starting the process.
The certified death certificate (the funeral home usually provides copies and also reports the death to the SSA). The marriage certificate, even if the marriage was in another country; the foreign document with its translation works. The Social Security numbers of both and the birth certificates of you and your children. And your spouse's income history: recent W-2 forms or tax returns help verify that the benefit is calculated on everything they earned.
Steps before submitting the application to the SSA
Notify the SSA as soon as possible, because survivor benefits are paid, as a general rule, from the date of application and retroactivity is limited. Each month of delay can be a month lost.
The survivor's application is made by phone or in person, by appointment. The national number is 1-800-772-1213, with Spanish-language assistance, and the office locator at ssa.gov lets you find the closest one with your zip code. In cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, or New York appointments are scarce, so it's best to call in the first week.
In that call, ask them to tell you exactly which forms correspond to your case and what documents to bring. If another family member also qualifies (children, for example), the applications are submitted together so the family cap is distributed properly.
How to claim the employer's pension or retirement plan
In addition to Social Security, many families are entitled to an employer pension and never collect it because no one contacts them.
The first step is to call the benefits or human resources department of each employer your spouse had, including former ones, and ask if they left a pension, a 401(k), or life insurance. Federal law ERISA protects the spouse: in traditional pension plans, if the worker died before retiring, the plan must pay a survivor annuity to the spouse, unless you renounced it in writing. And in 401(k) plans, the spouse is the automatic beneficiary, above any other person designated without your signature.
Request in writing the plan summary, the death before retirement rules, and the beneficiary designation records. If the employer closed or the company changed ownership, the federal agency PBGC maintains a search for unclaimed pensions.
Payments after approval
Once the application is approved, monthly payments begin, generally, the following month, because Social Security pays each month earned. The exact date depends on the deceased's birth date.
Confirm the payment method from the start: direct deposit to your account or Direct Express card, because paper checks were eliminated in 2025 except for exceptions. And ask about retroactivity: in certain cases, such as applications with disability, the SSA can pay months prior to the application. A detail that surprises families: the Social Security payment that arrives in the month of death must be returned, because the deceased's right ends the previous month. The survivor's pension replaces it.
Immigration: green card or survivor without citizenship
If you have permanent residency (green card), your status remains the same after your spouse's death and you can collect all the benefits described.
If your residency was in process through your husband, the law offers paths that almost no one knows about. The widow or widower of a U.S. citizen can self-petition for residency with form I-360 within 2 years after death, even if the original petition was never filed. And when there was already a pending family petition at the time of death, section 204(l) of immigration law allows, in certain cases, for it to continue. The forms that are worth reviewing with a lawyer are the I-360, the I-485 (adjustment of status), and the I-864 (where a new economic sponsor may be needed).
These deadlines are short and mistakes cost residency, so the recommendation is a consultation with an immigration lawyer in the first few weeks, along with the Social Security process.
If you live outside the United States or are thinking of moving
Social Security can continue paying survivors who live abroad, with rules that depend on citizenship and the country. U.S. citizens collect in almost any country. Survivors without citizenship, as a general rule, must have lived in the United States for at least 5 years during the marriage to collect from abroad, although the SSA's international agreements eliminate this requirement with several countries.
There are countries where the SSA is prohibited from sending payments, such as Cuba and North Korea, and others with partial restrictions. And there is a tax effect: beneficiaries without citizenship who live outside the country have a percentage of their payment withheld as tax. Before moving, it's worth a call to the SSA (the "Payments Abroad" tool on its site, available in English, shows country-by-country rules) and a consultation about taxes in the destination country.
Other survivor benefits
The Social Security pension is the most well-known benefit and it's worth reviewing the complete list. If your husband was military, the VA pays DIC compensation when the death is related to service, and a survivor's pension for economic need for spouses of wartime veterans.
Employers usually include group life insurance that the family is unaware of; ask at each job they had.
If your husband worked for state or local government (schools, transportation, maintenance), public systems like CalPERS in California, IMRF in Illinois, or NYSLRS in New York pay their own survivor pensions with separate processes.
And if the death occurred at work, the state's workers' compensation pays benefits to the family: in California, for example, between $250,000 and $320,000 depending on the number of dependents, plus funeral expenses, regardless of the family's immigration status.
When benefits change and what you must report
Receiving benefits brings reporting obligations, and staying silent generates debts with the SSA that are later deducted from payments.
You must report if you remarry before age 60 (50 with disability), because the new marriage ends the survivor's pension; marrying after 60 leaves it intact. You must report your income if you work and still fall short of your full retirement age, because earning above the annual limit (which the SSA updates each year) reduces payments temporarily. And you must report changes of address, trips outside the country for more than 30 days, and changes in disability or custody of children who are collecting.
Special cases: death before or after retirement
If your husband died before retiring, his already-earned credits still generate the survivor's pension, and young workers need fewer credits: with barely a year and a half of work in the three years prior, there are benefits for children and for the spouse who cares for them. In the employer's pension, the pre-retirement survivor annuity (QPSA) protects the spouse by law.
If he died after retiring, his survivor's pension starts from what he was collecting, including the increase for having waited past his full retirement age. In the employer's pension, everything depends on the choice they made when retiring: the joint and survivor option continues paying you a percentage for life, while the individual life option ends with death.
That is why, if your spouse is about to retire now, comparing those options before signing is one of the most important economic decisions of the marriage, and the law requires your notarized signature to renounce survivor protection.
If someone caused your husband's death
All of the above are benefits that are collected without blaming anyone. When the death of your loved one was caused by someone else's negligence (a drunk driver, medical error, a job without safety measures, a defective product), there is also the wrongful death lawsuit, which compensates the family for the lost income of an entire lifetime, expenses, and loss of companionship.
The two paths are compatible: the Social Security pension remains the same even if the family wins a lawsuit. The deadlines to sue are 2 years in California, Georgia, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, with much shorter notices when the responsible party is a public entity.
At Conexión Legal we evaluate for free if there is a case: a team member listens to what happened, in Spanish, and connects the family with a wrongful death lawyer in their state, with fees that are charged only if the case is won.
Practical checklist and next steps with the SSA
- Ask the funeral home for several certified copies of the death certificate and confirm that they reported the death to the SSA.
- Call 1-800-772-1213 in the first week, request Spanish-language assistance, and schedule your survivor's benefit application appointment.
- Gather marriage certificate, Social Security numbers, birth certificates of your children, and the most recent W-2 or tax return of your spouse.
- Submit your application and that of your children together.
- Contact each employer your spouse had and ask about pension, 401(k), and life insurance.
- Activate direct deposit and keep the approval letter.
- If there was negligence in the death, consult a lawyer before the deadlines run out.
SSA decision times range from 2 weeks to 3 months depending on the case. If the application is denied, you have 60 days to appeal, and appeals with representation are won much more frequently than those the person fights alone.
Resources and legal help
The local SSA office can be found with your zip code at ssa.gov/es or by calling 1-800-772-1213. For Social Security appeals it's best to have a specialized lawyer, who charges only if they win and with caps set by law. For the rest, free legal clinics at universities and community organizations in each city help with survivor processes at low or no cost.
And for the question that brought many readers here: yes, you have rights, there are several, and none activate on their own. A free consultation with Conexión Legal, by phone or message at any time, helps you organize what you are entitled to, with what deadlines, and where to start this very week.
