How Social Security Spousal Benefits Work

How Social Security Spousal Benefits Work

Can a non-working spouse receive Social Security retirement benefits based upon her husband's earnings? Yes, a spouse can collect a Social Security spousal benefit if the following requirements are met:

1. The wife needs to be at least age 62

2. The husband will need to be eligible for benefits, so he should also be at least age 62. In addition, the husband needs to actually apply for Social Security retirement benefits for his wife to collect based on his income. The husband can then decide to delay receiving benefits. This strategy is known as "file and suspend".

To give you an illustration, if the wife is 62 and the husband is 58, the wife can begin collecting benefits based on her own income, but she can not receive benefits based on her husband's earnings until he becomes 62 and starts collecting his own benefits.

On the other hand, if the wife is 66 and the husband is only 62, then the wife can begin collecting as determined by her husband's earnings (remember, the husband will have to submit an application for benefits before his wife will be able to collect based on his income).

In both cases mentioned above, the wife can start receiving benefits calculated on her own earnings as soon as she turns 62 (assuming she has more than 40 quarters of earnings and qualifies for benefits on her own), then change to half of her husband's benefit once her husband becomes eligible for Social Security.

Some areas to consider before applying for benefits:

If a wife applies for her Social Security spousal benefit calculated on her husband's earnings when she becomes full retirement age (age 66 for people retiring now), then she'll receive half of her husband's primary insurance amount (PIA). However, if she starts receiving benefits at age 62, her benefit will only be 35% of her husband's PIA.

It does not help the spouse to apply after her full retirement age, as spousal benefits will not include delayed credits. In addition, it will not help the wife if the husband waits to apply for benefits because she will not receive any increase in benefits that he will get by waiting to apply.

Where a spouse reaches full retirement age and becomes eligible for the spousal benefit or her own benefit, she may start collecting the spousal benefit now and hold off taking her own benefit in order to build up delayed credits on her own benefit.

An individual can collect Social Security spousal benefits based on an ex-spouse's income as long as you were married for a minimum of 10 years and you are currently unmarried. For people with more than one ex-spouse that you meet the requirements for spousal benefits, you'll receive the maximum benefit you qualify for. One benefit that divorced spouses have over married spouses is that a divorced spouse does not need to wait for a former husband to start collecting benefits as long as the couple is divorced for at least 2 yrs when she applies.

Finally, the Social Security retirement system is gender neutral, so while this article has assumed that the wife is the one applying for spousal benefits, if the wife makes more than the husband, the husband can apply for Social Security benefits based on his wife's earnings.

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