The Medicare line does.
So the survivor can be living on less, filing as single, with roughly the same reportable income — and crossing a threshold that never applied while there were two names on the return. Two years later, the letter arrives, on top of a single filer's tax bracket in the same year.
Nobody does this on purpose. It's just what happens when the plan was built for two and the rules are written for one.
Would you agree that a decision like this is easier to make while both spouses are here to make it? Which accounts get drawn first, whether any tax-later money should become tax-never money, when each Social Security check starts — those all touch the survivor's line, and the order they happen in changes the outcome.
I can't tell you what's right for your household from here. What I can do is lay your decisions out in the order they have to happen, including what the picture looks like for whoever is left. That's the Income Order Review. Thirty minutes on Zoom. Sometimes the answer is you've already planned for it.
Educational information only. Not tax, legal, or investment advice. Thresholds per CMS for 2026 and indexed annually; tax treatment depends on individual circumstances — confirm with a qualified tax professional.
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