A married spouse without an earnings record (or whose record would result in a lower Social Security payment) can collect on his or her spouse's earnings record when his or her spouse turns 62. Collecting Social Security at 62 has some advantages.
For a spouse who is not entitled to benefits on his or her own earnings record, this reduction factor is applied to the base spousal benefit, which is 50 percent of the worker's primary insurance amount.
When a worker files for benefits from Social Security, the worker's spouse may be able to claim a benefit based on the worker's contributions. For spouses to receive the benefit, they must be at least age 62 or care for a child under age 16 (or one receiving Social Security disability benefits).
Yes, she can switch to spousal when you retire and it may even happen automatically. But if she starts collecting before her full retirement age (67) her benefits will be reduced and that reduction will also apply to her spousal benefits.
Spouses and ex-spouses
Payments start at 71.5% of your spouse's benefit and increase the longer you wait to apply. For example, you might get: Over 75% at age 61.
Have you heard about the Social Security $16,728 yearly bonus? There's really no “bonus” that retirees can collect. The Social Security Administration (SSA) uses a specific formula based on your lifetime earnings to determine your benefit amount.
The first exception, which can be deemed as the Social Security spousal benefits loophole, works where an individual who remarries at 60 or later may still be entitled to Social Security survivors' benefits if the second marriage ends before the death of the first spouse.
If the spouses divorced, the marriage must have lasted 10 years. Each survivor benefit can be up to 100% of your benefit. The amount may be reduced if the women start benefits before their own full retirement age, but they don't have to share — the amount isn't reduced because you've had more than one spouse.
The Social Security 5-year rule refers specifically to disability benefits. It requires that you must have worked five out of the last ten years immediately before your disability onset to qualify for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI).
Spousal Benefits for Retired Workers
A spouse who has never worked in paid jobs or has not worked to earn sufficient credits to be eligible for his/her own retired worker benefits can receive a spousal benefit that is 50 percent of the eligible worker's full benefit.
You can start collecting benefits if your ex-spouse is 62 or older and you have been divorced for two or more years.
To qualify to get $144 added back to your Social Security check, you can enroll in a Medicare Advantage plan that offers a Part B premium reduction or giveback benefit.
Here's a very simple example:
The maximum Social Security spousal benefit would be 50% of that, or a monthly payment of $1,000. If you are that worker's spouse or ex-spouse, and you don't have your own Social Security retirement benefit, you could be eligible to receive that spousal benefit of 50%.
Surviving spouse, at full retirement age or older, generally gets 100% of the worker's basic benefit amount. Surviving spouse, age 60 or older, but under full retirement age, gets between 71% and 99% of the worker's basic benefit amount.
How much can you earn and still get benefits? later, then your full retirement age for retirement insurance benefits is 67. If you work, and are at full retirement age or older, you may keep all of your benefits, no matter how much you earn.
Either spouse can maximize their regular Social Security benefit amount by waiting past their full-retirement age to apply, up to age 70. Benefits generally increase 8% each year filing is delayed.
Yes, you can. Notify the Social Security Administration that you were married more than once and may qualify for benefits on more than one spouse's earnings record.
You can start receiving your Social Security retirement benefits as early as age 62. However, you are entitled to full benefits only when you reach your full retirement age. If you delay taking your benefits from your full retirement age up to age 70, your benefit amount will increase.
Key takeaways
Once you turn 62, you typically qualify for a spouse's Social Security benefit.
Exactly how much in earnings do you need to get a $3,000 benefit? Well, you just need to have averaged about 70% of the taxable maximum. In our example case, that means that your earnings in 1983 were about $22,000 and increased every year to where they ended at about $100,000 at age 62.
The termination of benefits in the Social Security disability program is based predominantly on four factors: conversion to the retirement program (that is, attainment of full retirement age), death, medical recovery, and work recovery.
• If you've worked and paid taxes into the Social Security system for at least 10 years and have earned a minimum of 40 work credits, you can collect your own benefits as early as age 62. • We base Social Security benefits on your lifetime earnings.