Let’s assume for a moment that you are now gone and your surviving spouse must account for all the income she will receive.  A common mistake today is if you just assume that your surviving spouse will continue to receive “both” Social Security checks just like during your retirement.  However, this is not correct.  Your spouse will only receive “one” check from Social Security.  In other words, the total Social Security income will be reduced and a good rule of thumb is that your spouse can receive the larger check the two of you had been receiving.