Q; My father recently passed away. He and my mother were divorced in the 1970s. Can she get any Social Security benefits on my father's record?

A: Your mother would be eligible for divorced widow's benefits from Social Security IF:

1. She and your dad were married for at least 10 years;

2. She did not remarry, or she remarried, but that subsequent marriage ended;

3. She is at least 60 years old and not working, or working and making less than, or not much more than, $13,560 per year; and

4. She is not due a higher retirement benefit on her own Social Security record.

Your mother should contact the Social Security Administration at 800-772-1213 to discuss her potential eligibility for benefits on your father's Social Security record.

Q: I worked until I was 59 years old. I plan to start my Social Security retirement benefits later this year when I turn 62. I know I will get penalized for taking reduced retirement benefits at 62 as opposed to waiting until 66. But will I get an extra penalty for retiring at 59?

A: Frequent readers of this column will know that I have answered this question many times in the past. But I keep getting it over and over again. So, for some reason, not everyone in the country is reading my column every week!

Once again, the answer is: You are not really "penalized" because you retired at age 59. But your Social Security retirement benefit will not be as high as it could have been had you kept working until age 62.

Everyone's Social Security retirement benefit is based on his or her average income using the highest 35 years of earnings. By retiring at age 59, you missed out on several years of what would probably have been your highest earning years.. (Most of us tend to make a little more money from one year to the next.)

The Social Security Administration will still use your highest 35 years. In your case, those "high 35" will probably be the years between ages 24 and 59. Had you kept working until your were 62, they probably would have used the years between 27 and 62.

When you were 24 years old, you might still have been flipping burgers at McDonalds and making little more than pocket change. Those few extra years of "burger-flipping wages" will lower your overall average income, and that will lower your Social Security benefit.

But don't lose too much sleep over it. If you can afford to retire at 59, you're probably not going to worry about the few bucks your going to lose in a Social Security retirement benefit. (My guess is your benefit will be about $50 per month less than it could have been had you worked until age 62.)

Q: All my life I always made what I thought were average wages. I recently turned 65 and started getting about $1,400 per month in Social Security retirement benefits. But I just saw a chart in the newspaper that said the average Social Security retirement benefit was about $1,000. Believe m, I am not complaining that I am getting too much money. But can you explain the apparent discrepancy?

A: The average Social Security benefit for recent retirees is pretty close to your $1,400 rate. I am sure the chart you saw in the newspaper listed the average monthly benefit for all retirees, which includes rich and poor alike, as well as new and very old retirees. There are quite a few people who are getting very small Social Security benefits, and those low payments lower the overall "average" retirement benefit.

To find out more about Tom Margenau and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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