Social Security Spousal Benefits: Details that You Probably Don’t Know

Social Security Spousal Benefits are designed to give retirement income to spouses who were not able to work, or had significantly a lesser amount of lifetime earnings than their husbands or wives. Social Security spousal benefits may appear to be simple and easy to understand, but there are some people who still need a lot of clarifications on some of its finer details, particularly pertaining to eligibility.

If either you or your spouse plans to claim Social Security Spousal Benefits, here are some helpful facts that you probably don’t know:

Benefits are available even if one spouse has never been employed

Even if you have never been employed, you can still receive a significant amount of money if your spouse is entitled to claim. You are eligible to at least ½ of your spouse’s earnings if he or she has accumulated 40 credits, which one gathers by earning income through the years.

A separate application is not required to obtain benefits

You automatically qualify to collect from Social Security without submitting a separate application. If your spouse is eligible and he or she has made a legitimate application, you are entitled as well.

Divorcees are eligible for spousal benefits

If you are divorced, you are still qualified to get a monthly check in your ex-husband’s or ex-wife’s name. However, there are other eligibility requirements before you can start collecting money. First, your marriage to your former spouse should have lasted 10 years or more. Secondly, you should not have remarried. The third requirement is your ex should be entitled to accept retirement or disability benefits. However, if this is the case, both beneficiaries should still meet the 62-year old age requirement. What if your ex has met the age requirement but has not applied to Social Security? You can still collect if you’ve been divorced for two years or more.

You can claim before full retirement age, but the amount is significantly reduced

You are allowed to claim before retirement age. Normal retirement age is computed based on your date of birth. For people born after 1959, retirement age is 67 years old. This means that as a beneficiary, this is when you can get the full amount. The earliest possible age when you can obtain money is 62 years old. However, if you claim this early, it causes permanent reduction in the amount that you will receive. In fact, you will only get 32.5% of the total quantity that your spouse will procure. On the other hand, if you wait until full retirement, you get half or 50% of your spouse’s full benefit. Significantly reducing what you will receive is not a good idea, so it is better to wait until your spouse reaches normal retirement age. 

There is no increase in delaying beyond full retirement age

There is no point in waiting beyond retirement age because delayed retirement credits are not implemented for spouses. Husbands or wives cannot receive money from delayed retirement credits.  The sum of money that you get is only dependent on your husband or wife’s base benefit amount.