@Roxanna35
My understanding from past research is that a surviving spouse who has their own SS retirement benefit will receive a benefit amount equal to the larger of the two spouses' benefits (assuming that the surviving spouse begins to collect survivor benefits at their full retirement age of old; otherwise, the benefit would be reduced for early age). But the total benefit is the combined sum:
- (their own retirement benefit) + (the difference between the deceased spouse's benefit and their own retirement benefit ...but not less than zero; so if the surviving spouse had the greater retirement benefit they won't get any survivor benefit from the deceased spouse)
So the entire benefit does come to the same amount: the larger of the two spouses' retirement benefit. It is just that the "source" of the funds is different. This is just a number's game of course because Social Security funds are not in individual accounts.
There are some subtleties that may come in depending on if the survivor is younger than their FRA or not. If so, and if they are receiving their own worker's benefit, they can elect to postpone their survivor's benefit until FRA. If they don't have their own worker's benefit, but are receiving spousal benefit at age younger than FRA (a situation that my own wife could find herself in and for which I have planned) then there is no such election, their benefit is automatically converted from spousal to survivor.
I hope this is all clear. Perhaps it will salve that resentment a little bit.
I will be off now to find those particular rules in the SS pages so I can provide links.
edit to add:
• a useful article https://www.aarp.org/retirement/social-security/questions-answers/eligible-retirement-and-survivor-b...
• https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10084.pdf
mentions on page 5 "If you’re getting benefits based on your own work, call or visit us. We’ll check to see if you can get more money as a widow or widower. If so, you’ll get a combination of benefits that equals the higher amount."
• https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/applying7.html
adds "If your spouse qualifies for benefits on their own record, we will pay that amount first. If the benefit on your record is higher, they will get an additional amount on your record so that the combination of benefits equals that higher amount."