Do you qualify for Social Security spousal benefits?
If you are (or were) married, and you worked as a caregiver or part-time (or even full-time at a low salary) for most of your adult life, Social Security provides a way for you to get a little more retirement income than you might expect.
Social Security spousal benefits allow you to get a monthly check that’s up to 50% of your spouse’s retirement benefit. If you plan ahead so that you and your spouse each maximize your benefit amounts, this provision can give your retirement income a boost.
Key Points
- When you apply for Social Security, you’re entitled to an amount based on your own earnings record, or up to 50% of your spouse’s retirement benefit, whichever is larger.
- To qualify for spousal benefits, you need to be at least 62 years old and married for at least one year.
Do you qualify for spousal benefits?
Starting at age 62, you qualify for spousal Social Security benefits if:
- You’ve been married at least a year and your spouse or partner has filed for Social Security or
- Your spouse is deceased (called a survivors benefit) or
- You are divorced (and still unmarried) and you were married for at least 10 years. Your claim won’t impact your ex’s retirement income—they don’t even need to know.
Your spousal benefit doesn’t affect how much money your spouse gets. The two benefits are calculated separately.
How Social Security spousal benefits are calculated
The amount of your own Social Security benefit is primarily determined by how old you are when you first claim benefits, as well as your lifetime earnings history.
So if you earned little or no income—perhaps because you were a full-time caregiver, or worked part-time—that could leave you with a pretty small monthly Social Security check.
That’s where the spousal benefit comes in.
When you apply for Social Security, you’ll either get an amount based on your own earnings record, or up to 50% of your spouse’s retirement benefit—whichever is larger. Your age and the age of the primary earner come into play as well. And yes, these guidelines apply to same-sex and common law marriages.
For example: Suppose your spouse’s monthly Social Security check is $1,600. Based on that, you’d be able to claim 50%, or $800, in spousal benefits. But if your own retirement benefit is higher than that amount—say, $900 a month—you’d get the $900.
The average spousal benefit may increase based on the Social Security Administration’s annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). Beginning in January 2024, Social Security benefits increased by 3.2%.
A couple can plan ahead to maximize their combined benefits. Let’s explore how.
Take note
If you’re caring for a child who’s under 16 or who’s getting Social Security disability benefits, you don’t need to be 62 to claim your “spousal benefit.”
How to maximize spousal benefits
The basic rule with Social Security is that the older you are when you first claim benefits, the more money you get on a monthly basis.
If someone is only 62 when they claim Social Security, they get what’s called a permanently reduced retirement benefit—about 30% less than the amount they’d get if they waited until their full retirement age or FRA. (For those born after 1960, FRA is 67.)
When to claim Social Security? Understand early, delayed, and full retirement age (FRA) and how your benefits are affected.
The same is true for spousal benefits. If you file for Social Security at age 62, your spousal benefit would be permanently reduced. But if you wait until your full retirement age (usually 67) to claim benefits, you’d get the full spousal benefit.
Also note that if the higher earner claims benefits early and gets a permanently reduced benefit, the spouse’s 50% will be based on that reduced amount.
Typically when claiming Social Security, you get the highest amount if you wait until age 70. But that doesn’t apply to spousal benefits. You don’t get a higher spousal benefit if your spouse waits until age 70 to claim benefits, nor do you get a higher spousal benefit if you yourself wait until age 70.
Consider the math carefully. It can get confusing depending on which spouse is older and how many years apart you are.
For example
Suppose the worker’s full retirement benefit is $1,600 per month (assuming they file at 67, or their full retirement age).
If they instead file for benefits early at age 62, they’ll get a permanently reduced benefit of $1,120, a 30% decrease. That would impact their spouse, who can only get a maximum of 50% in spousal benefits at age 67, or $560. Combined total: $1,680.
If the worker files at 67 and they get $1,600 per month, and the spouse waits until age 67 to claim spousal benefits, the spouse is entitled to 50%, or $800. Combined total: $2,400.
If the worker waits until age 70 to get the maximum amount, their overall benefit would be 24% higher, or $1,984. Waiting until 70 doesn’t help the spouse getting spousal benefits, so the maximum spousal benefit would still be $800 at age 67. Combined total: $2,784.
Two spousal Social Security filing strategies that no longer work
It’s worth mentioning two Social Security strategies that were once popular options for couples, but are no longer available because of a federal law change in 2015. Pay attention, because there are a few retirement planning professionals who might still recommend these obsolete strategies.
“File and suspend” was a strategy where the worker could file for his or her benefits, enabling their spouse to get spousal benefits, and then suspend their benefits until they were older and could re-file and claim a higher benefit amount. Workers can still file and suspend their benefits, but spousal benefits won’t be paid while the worker’s benefits are suspended.
The other strategy also involved a switch. A spouse could file for spousal benefits as soon they were eligible, and then after a few years, switch over and claim their own benefit—which would then be higher. This option is no longer allowed.
The only people who might be able to switch benefits midstream are widows, widowers, and divorcees who are getting a survivors benefit. If, for example, your spouse or ex-spouse was earning delayed benefits, upon their death, your survivors benefit would be worth 100% of the delayed benefit. Again, this could change the math between filing on your own record versus a spouse or ex-spouse Social Security record.
Good to know
If you’re caring for a qualifying child, your benefit is not reduced, regardless of your age when you claim. If you’re a widow or widower at full retirement age, you qualify for your deceased spouse’s full benefit amount. This is a form of spousal benefits called a survivors benefit.
The bottom line
If both spouses can wait until their full retirement age to claim Social Security, that’s a smart way to maximize your total combined Social Security income. If the higher-earning spouse can wait until age 70, that could provide an additional bump.
But it’s not always easy to decide, as there are many factors to consider—your life expectancy, your overall health, other assets, and other sources of retirement income you might have.