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.
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. However, spouse benefits may be less generous than widow benefits for two reasons.
People of retirement age may qualify for benefits based on their own earnings records, those of their spouses or ex-spouses, or a combination. In 2022, 40% of women (PDF) ages 62 and older were receiving at least some of their benefits on the basis of their spouses' earning records.
Marriage has its perks
Social Security covers both spouses, regardless of whether one or both brought home a paycheck over the years.
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.
This is good news when former spouses are not on good terms. Your ex cannot “block” you from drawing your spousal benefit. In fact, he probably won't even know if you are drawing off him unless he calls SSA to ask.
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.
A wife with no work record or low benefit entitlement on her own work record is eligible for between one-third and one-half of her spouse's Social Security benefit.
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.
Bottom Line. Getting remarried will not affect your accrued retirement or disability benefits under Social Security. However, if you receive divorce of survivor's benefits, there is a good chance that remarriage will affect those payments.
Although you need at least 10 years of work (40 credits) to qualify for Social Security retirement benefits, we base the amount of your benefit on your highest 35 years of earnings.
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.
Under Social Security's rules however, if you remarry before age 60 you are no longer eligible to receive the survivor benefit based on a late spouse's (or ex-spouse's) record. This ineligibility continues for the duration of your marriage that occurred before age 60.
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.
If your spouse dies, do you get both Social Security benefits? You cannot claim your deceased spouse's benefits in addition to your own retirement benefits. Social Security only will pay one—survivor or retirement. If you qualify for both survivor and retirement benefits, you will receive whichever amount is higher.
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.
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.
The Bottom Line. If you were married to them for at least 10 years, you may be able to collect Social Security benefits based on your ex's work record. If you meet the requirements, you can receive benefits equal to as much as 50% of your ex's retirement benefit.
In addition, to be eligible for spouse's benefits, you must be one of the following: 62 years of age or older. Any age if you have a child who is younger than 16 in your care or has a disability and is entitled to benefits on your spouse's record.
you're eligible for some of your ex's Social Security
wives and widows. That means most divorced women collect their own Social Security while the ex is alive, but can apply for higher widow's rates when he dies.
Resource limits could also impact your Social Security
If you exceed that limit, you need to spend down your resources to be eligible. According to a recent study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 70,000 beneficiaries on average lose their benefits each year because they exceed the limit.
As much as you want at any age The amount of money that you have in your bank accounts has no bearing on your social security benefits, even if you're collecting ss early between 62–66.
What are the signs that Social Security is investigating you? Signs may include increased communication from the SSA, requests for documentation, discrepancies in records, monitoring of changes in your circumstances, patterns of claims, interviews or home visits, and suspicious activity reports.