Ways To Make The Most Of The Social Security Spousal Benefit

When can a spouse start collecting his or her Social Security spousal benefit? A wife can start receiving Social Security spousal benefits only when the following criteria have been met:

1. The wife must be at least age 62

2. The husband must be eligible for benefits, so he must also be at least age 62. Additionally, the husband must actually apply for Social Security retirement benefits in order for his wife to collect based on his earnings. The husband can then choose to delay collecting benefits. This strategy is referred to as "file and suspend".

To provide you with an example, if the wife is 62 and the husband is 58, the wife can start collecting benefits based on her own earnings, but she cannot collect based on her husband's earnings until he turns 62 and applies for benefits.

On the other hand, if the wife is 66 and the husband is 62, then the wife can start collecting calculated on her husband's earnings (again the husband will have to apply for benefits before the wife can collect based on his earnings).

In both examples mentioned above, the wife can start receiving benefits based on her own earnings at age 62 (assuming she has no less than 40 quarters and qualifies for benefits on her own), then switch to half of her husband's benefit as soon as her husband becomes eligible for Social Security.

A couple of points to take into account before applying for benefits:

If a wife applies for her Social Security spousal benefit based on her husband's earnings when she attains full retirement age (age 66 for people retiring now), then she will receive 50% of her husband's primary insurance amount (PIA). However, if she applies at age 62, her benefit will only be 35% of her husband's PIA.

It does not benefit the spouse to apply after her full retirement age, as spousal benefits do not include delayed credits. Additionally, it does not help the wife if the husband delays applying for benefits because she will not receive any increase in benefits that he gets by waiting to apply.

If a spouse reaches full retirement age and is eligible for a spousal benefit or her own benefit, she may start collecting the spousal benefit now and delay taking her own benefit so she can build up delayed credits on her own benefit.

You can collect Social Security spousal benefits based on an ex-spouse's earnings as long as you were married for at least 10 years and you are currently unmarried. Should you have more than one ex-spouse that you qualify for spousal benefits, you will receive the highest benefit you qualify for. One advantage that divorced spouses have over married spouses is that a divorced spouse won't have to wait for a former husband to apply for benefits as long as the couple has been divorced for at least two years when she applies.

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

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