Life Insurance✓ Verified · outline & fact-checked · Sep 2026Difficulty 2/5
In Social Security survivor benefits, the 'blackout period' is the time during which:
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Answer & full 3-part explanation (select an option above, or peek)
Why C is correct
The blackout period is the gap in Social Security survivor benefits for a surviving spouse: monthly survivor payments stop when the youngest child turns 16 and resume when the surviving spouse reaches age 60, or 50 if disabled. During this window the family is especially vulnerable to income loss, which is why life insurance agents point clients to it as a coverage-need gap. The five-month SSDI waiting period and the 40-credit rule are separate and distinct concepts in the Social Security system.
Why the other options are wrong
- A) The five-month waiting period applies to the worker's own disability benefits, not to a widow's survivor benefit gap.
- B) The 40-credit fully insured requirement concerns eligibility status, not a suspension of benefits already in payment.
- D) The blackout period assumes the deceased worker was insured; it is a timing gap, not a denial of coverage.
Memory hook
Blackout = the survivor-benefit gap between the youngest child's 16th birthday and the widow's 60th.