You can get Social Security retirement or survivors benefits and work at the same time. But, if you're younger than full retirement age, and earn more than certain amounts, your benefits will be reduced.
No. You can only have one as your retirement benefit. Your spouse would file for her/his own benefit.
Remarriage at any time makes the widow potentially eligible for spouse benefits on her new husband's work record, so marriage is unlikely to leave a woman ineligible for Social Security.
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.
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.
If you remarry after age 60 – You may be eligible for survivors benefits on your deceased spouse's record or benefits on your new spouse's record. Contact us to find out where you are due the greatest benefit amount.
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.
Impact of remarrying: If you remarry before age 60 (or 50 if disabled), you typically won't be eligible to collect survivor benefits from your former spouse. However, if the subsequent marriage ends, you may become eligible again.
If you've reached your full retirement age, you can receive 100% of your spouse's disability benefits. If you're between 50 and 59 and you also have a disability, you can receive 71.5% percent of your spouse's benefits.
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.
If your spouse built up entitlement to the State Second Pension between 2002 and 2016, you are entitled to inherit 50% of this amount; PLUS. If your spouse built up entitlement to Graduated Retirement Benefit between 1961 and 1975, you are entitled to inherit 50% of this amount.
The widow's penalty occurs when a surviving spouse's tax status reverts from married filing jointly to single. If you're a widow or widower, you can file a joint tax return for the year of your spouse's death.
Your surviving spouse can get reduced benefits as early as age 60. If your surviving spouse has a disability, benefits can begin as early as age 50. For more information on survivors benefits, visit www.ssa.gov/survivorplan.
Can I Collect Half of My Spouse's Social Security at Age 62? Not quite. The percentage of your spouse's full retirement benefit that you receive could be as little as 32.5% at age 62. It steps up gradually to 50% as you near your full retirement age, which is 65, 66, or 67, depending on your birth year.
A Social Security spousal rule that was around for decades ended this year for the last eligible retirees — those who turned 70 on Jan. 1, 2024. The rule allowed recipients to switch between their benefits and their spouses' to receive the maximum amount.
Marriage has its perks
Social Security covers both spouses, regardless of whether one or both brought home a paycheck over the years.
Namely, if you remarry before the age of 60 (or age 50 if you are disabled), you cannot receive benefits as a surviving spouse while you are married. If you remarry after the age of 60 (or age 50 if you are disabled), you will continue to qualify for benefits on your deceased spouse's Social Security record.
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.
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.