The Social Security Administration is nothing if not terribly slow in it’s decision making. Perhaps this is a category that doesn’t take as long to determine as others, but these sorts of thing take a good six months or more to determine. If this lady has already been notified, it’s somewhat of a miracle.
No.
Survivors’ benefits are not something that have to be “decided” unless there was something irregular involved.
Speaking as a widow who has been through the drill. Just took a visit to the local SS office.