Key Things You Need To Know About The Social Security Spousal Benefit

Key Things You Need To Know About The Social Security Spousal Benefit

Can a non-working wife receive Social Security retirement income determined by her husband's earnings? Yes, a husband or wife can collect a Social Security spousal benefit if the following requirements are met:

1. The spouse applying for the spousal benefit needs to be at least age 62

2. The husband must be eligible for benefits, consequently he should also be at least age 62. Also, the husband has to actually sign up for Social Security retirement benefits for his wife to receive benefits based on his income. The husband can then choose to postpone receiving benefits. This course of action is called "file and suspend".

To offer an illustration, if the wife is 62 and the husband is 60, the wife can begin collecting benefits based on her income, but she won't be able collect based on her husband's income until he becomes 62 and starts receiving his own benefits.

However, if the wife is 66 and her spouse is only 62, then the wife can start receiving as determined by her husband's income (remember, the husband must apply for his Social Security before his spouse can collect based upon his income).

In the cases above, the wife can start collecting benefits calculated on her own income as early as age 62 (assuming she's got as a minimum forty quarters of earnings and qualifies for benefits on her own), then switch to 1 / 2 her husband's benefit once her husband qualifies for Social Security.

Several points you should take into consideration before applying for benefits:

If a wife applies for her Social Security spousal benefit based on her husband's income when she becomes full retirement age (age 66 for individuals retiring now), then she will collect half of her husband's primary insurance amount (PIA). On the other hand, if she starts receiving benefits at age 62, her benefit will only be 35% of her husband's PIA.

It doesn't help the spouse to wait until after reaching full retirement age to apply for benefits, as spousal benefits don't include delayed credits. Also, it won't benefit the wife if the husband waits to apply for benefits because she will not receive any boost in benefits that he will get by waiting to collect benefits.

When a spouse gets to full retirement age and becomes qualified to apply for the spousal benefit or her own benefit, she may claim the spousal benefit now and delay receiving her own benefit in order to accumulate delayed credits on her own benefit.

A person can collect Social Security spousal benefits determined by an ex-spouse's income so long as you were married for a minimum of 10 years and you are at present unmarried. For people with more than one ex-spouse which you meet the criteria regarding spousal benefits, you'll get the maximum benefit you qualify for. One advantage that divorced spouses have over married spouses is the fact that a divorced spouse does not need to wait around for a former husband to make an application for benefits as long as the pair is divorced for a minimum of 2 yrs when she applies.

Finally, the Social Security retirement system is gender neutral, so though this article has assumed that the wife is usually the one applying for spousal benefits, if the wife earns more money than the husband, the husband can sign up for Social Security benefits based on his wife's earnings.

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