social security

Q. After my dad died, I didn’t realize his bank account was still collecting Social Security benefits. This happened for seven months. No one has stopped the payments. What do I do? Can we keep the money that was already deposited?

Q. I didn’t know we couldn’t do File and Suspend any more, and this changes things for when we can retire. Is there anything we can do? I’m 60 and my wife is 61.

Q. My neighbor is 70 and I think she has mild dementia. She has no family. I just learned she never filed for Social Security. What should she do?

Q. I am currently collecting widow’s benefits, which started at my full retirement age of 66. My sister, who is divorced, was informed that she is entitled to her entire Social Security as well as one half of her ex-husband’s. Am I entitled to collect my entire Social Security and one half of my late husband’s?

Q. How can I decide when to take Social Security?

Taking Social Security benefits early comes with a price, yet more than 4 in 10 Americans who are 50 and over say they'll dip into the program before reaching full retirement age.

Q. I am considering taking Social Security now, at age 63. Yes, I know all sorts of reasons to wait, like the annual increase of 8 percent in benefits. But there are some other reasons that I am thinking of that tip the balance the other way. My income is quite low now, so I need cash from somewhere–either my savings/investments or Social Security. If I use my savings, then that fund depletes and it would not be there for anyone to inherit when I’m gone. But no one will receive any of my Social Security benefits when I’m dead, so if I don’t take my benefits, and I die sooner rather than later, they remain untapped and disappear. — Looking for strategies

The Obama administration is taking steps to help people with disabilities get their student loan debt forgiven, safeguarding their Social Security payments.

Q. Now that file and suspend isn’t an option, what other strategies can we use to make sure we get as much as possible out of Social Security?

Q. Social Security’s changes not to allow file and suspend make sense. But they also stopped restricted applications. What were restricted applications?