Key Factors You Need To Know About The Social Security Spousal Benefit
Can a non-working wife receive Social Security retirement benefits based on her husband's earnings? Yes, a spouse can collect a Social Security spousal benefit if the following requirements are met:
1. The wife must be at least age 62
2. The husband needs to be eligible to receive benefits, consequently he should also be at least age 62. Additionally, the husband will have to actually apply for Social Security retirement benefits for his wife to collect based on his earnings. The husband may then elect to postpone receiving benefits. This strategy is referred to as "file and suspend".
To provide you with an illustration, if the wife is 62 and the husband is 58, the wife can start receiving benefits calculated on her income, but she cannot collect based on her husband's earnings until he becomes 62 and applies for benefits.
Then again, if the wife is age 66 and her spouse is only 62, then the wife can start collecting as determined by her husband's earnings (again the husband needs to sign up for his Social Security before his wife can collect based on his income).
In both examples stated above, the wife can begin collecting benefits calculated on her own earnings as early as age 62 (assuming she has at a minimum 40 quarters and also qualifies for benefits on her own), then she can switch to 1 / 2 her husband's benefit as soon as her husband becomes eligible for Social Security.
A few items to consider before applying for benefits:
If a wife applies for her Social Security spousal benefit as determined by her husband's income when she attains full retirement age (age 66 for people retiring now), then she will receive half of her husband's primary insurance amount (PIA). However, if she applies at age 62, then her benefit will be reduced to just 35% of her husband's PIA.
It doesn't help the spouse to apply after her full retirement age, as spousal benefits do not include delayed credits. Additionally, it will not help the wife if the husband delays applying for benefits because she won't get any rise in benefits that he gets by waiting to apply.
If a spouse reaches full retirement age and becomes eligible for a spousal benefit or her own benefit, she may apply for the spousal benefit now and postpone collecting her own benefit in order to build up delayed credits on her own benefit.
You can collect Social Security spousal benefits based on an ex-spouse's income as long as you were married for at least ten years and you are also at present unmarried. In case you have more than one ex-spouse that you qualify for spousal benefits, you'll receive the highest benefit you are entitled to. One edge that divorced spouses have over married spouses is the fact that a divorced spouse doesn't need to wait for a former husband to make an application for benefits as long as the couple is divorced for at least two years when she applies.
As a final point, the Social Security retirement program is gender neutral, so though this article has assumed that the wife is the one applying for spousal benefits, if the wife earns more than the husband, the husband can apply for Social Security benefits based on his wife's earnings.
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