Life Insurance✓ Verified · outline & fact-checked · Sep 2026Difficulty 2/5
In the Social Security survivor benefit program, the blackout period refers to the time:
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Answer & full 3-part explanation (select an option above, or peek)
Why A is correct
The blackout period is the gap in survivor benefits for a surviving spouse with children: benefits continue while there is a child under 16 in care, stop when the youngest child turns 16, and resume (at reduced widow's or widower's benefits) when the spouse reaches age 60. This gap is a well-known planning concern that life insurance is often used to fill.
Why the other options are wrong
- B) The period from 62 to full retirement age relates to retirement benefit timing, not the survivor blackout.
- C) Benefits resume at a reduced amount at 60, but the blackout is the gap, not the reduced amount itself.
- D) Benefits are not doubled; the blackout describes a stoppage of payments, not an increase.
Memory hook
Blackout = the empty years between the last child turning 16 and the spouse turning 60. Life insurance fills that gap.