I will never stop fighting for policies to protect surviving spouses. I now have the ear of congress.
The Issue
No one truly understands the devastating loss of a spouse unless they have experienced it themselves. There have not been any words created that begin to allow others to feel an ounce of understanding or the pain. In the midst of overwhelming grief, widowed individuals are expected to manage complex paperwork, make critical decisions, and fight for what is rightfully theirs—often when they can barely think or function.
Losing a spouse is the most severe stressor a person can face. It has ever-lasting effects on mental, emotional, physical, and financial well-being. The sudden loss of income, combined with unchanged expenses, creates immense financial strain to an already debilitating situation.
There are over 15 million widowed individuals in the United States, 71% of whom are over age 65. Despite these numbers, widows and widowers remain largely invisible, with little policy or systemic support addressing their needs.
This is not just a personal issue—it is a public health crisis hiding in plain sight. Yet even informed and compassionate professionals are often unaware of how large this population is.
Despite this:
Few social service agencies offer widow-specific programs
Human services departments rarely identify widows as a distinct vulnerable group
Most places of worship provide only short-term support
Long-term resources to help widows rebuild their lives are scarce.
Surviving spouses are invisible in plain sight.
Why Sharing Your Story Matters
This is why sharing your story is so important. By speaking about your experiences—the struggles, the gaps in support, and the moments you felt abandoned—you help bring visibility to this overlooked crisis and push for meaningful change.
I am proposing 7 federal actions that would provide financial relief to the widowed, those people who have become invisible, unwitnessed, unnoticed and without any policies that protect them.
Action 1: Social Security
a. Allow the widowed to continue to collect their spouses social security payment as well as their own until they leave this earth even if they remarry. Social Security is not an entitlement and it is certainly not the fault of the contributors that our government has mismanaged and borrowed without repayment from social security. We have had money deducted from our paychecks our entire working lives. This money is ours, not the governments.
Pass the SWIFT Act.
b. Allow children to collect parental social security until the age of 22.
c. Increase the $255 one time payment. It’s cruel and insulting.
Action 2: Taxes
On taxes, change “qualifying surviving spouse” to simply “surviving spouse” and allow them the same standard deduction as married filing jointly. Married Jointly and Surviving Spouse have the same standard deduction which is currently $29,200. The widowed have always been able to file taxes jointly. Now they are faced with filing differently which lowers their standard deduction by approximately $15,000. The standard deduction for married filing jointly and qualifying surviving spouses is $29,200, for head of household it is $14,600 and for singles it is $14,600. The widowed must now take on the sole responsibility of the same mortgages, the same utility bills, and the same house up-keep bills. But now they have to do it with half of the income they were used to having. The widowed did not choose to not be married. Remove the word “qualifying” and make married filing jointly and surviving spouses the same deduction.
Action 3: Veteran Benefits
Every surviving spouse of a veteran who has given at least 4 years of service and who had already been collecting benefits, will continue to receive that benefit or at least $1800 each month. Yes, there are many cases where spouses receive VA payments but this is to help the surviving spouse who qualified for nothing “after” but has been the person to make their veteran spouse whole.
Action 4: Capital Gains
Eliminate capital gains tax completely or make the deduction on capital gains the same regardless of marital status. Currently, when a home is sold with a profit, single people can add on $250,000 to the purchase price whereas married people can add on $500,000 to reduce capital gains. Just why? Quite often, the widowed must sell their homes for a plethora of reasons including it is just too damned painful to live in the same house or, because the widowed have lost what could be a lot of income, they can sadly no longer afford their home.
Action 5: Pensions
Allow surviving spouses to receive their spouses pension regardless of retirement status.
Action 6: Eliminate estate (death) tax. It’s ridiculous.
Action 7: Eliminate or drastically reduce school taxes for single family home owners 65 and older. This helps not only the surviving spouses, but our seniors.

What you can do whether you are a surfing spouse or not because you or your spouse will be one day.

If you are a serving spouse, write a letter to me telling your story.

If you are not, write a letter to me saying why this is important.

Email to laurieryan4ny@gmail.com

Mail to:

Laurie Ryan

PO Box 121

50 Maple St

Croton On Hudson, NY 10520