For the most part, Social Security works like this: You earn money during your career, pay taxes on your wages, and then get to file for benefits once you reach a certain age (which happens to be 62).
But it's possible to collect a monthly benefit from Social Security in retirement even if you never worked a day in your life and have no income history to your name. If you are or were married to someone who's eligible for Social Security, you may be entitled to spousal benefits.
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And to be clear, those benefits won't take away from the amount of money your spouse or ex-spouse is entitled to. It's not as though Social Security is reducing the amount of money your current or former spouse is getting to pay you, so you should have no qualms about pursuing those benefits if you're entitled to them.
That said, it's important to understand the ins and outs of how Social Security spousal benefits work. It's also essential to recognize the factors that could lead to a smaller spousal benefit, like these.
1. Your spouse is opting to file early
The maximum amount you can get via Social Security spousal benefits is 50% of what your current or former spouse is eligible to collect. But if your spouse claims Social Security early and reduces their monthly benefit in the process, you'll have less money to claim yourself.
Let's imagine your spouse would normally get a $2,000 benefit from Social Security at their full retirement age (FRA), but they file several years early. That might reduce their benefit to $1,600. At that point, you'd only be eligible for a maximum of $800 a month instead of $1,000.
2. You're signing up before reaching FRA
You can receive half of your spouse's or ex-spouse's Social Security benefit as long as you wait until your own FRA to file. You're allowed to sign up sooner, but if you do, your spousal benefit will be reduced, the same way a primary benefit is reduced for an early filing.
If you and your spouse are different ages, you might each have a different FRA. You can consult this table to see what your FRA looks like based on the year you were born:
|
Year of Birth |
Full Retirement Age |
|---|---|
|
1943-1954 |
66 |
|
1955 |
66 and 2 months |
|
1956 |
66 and 4 months |
|
1957 |
66 and 6 months |
|
1958 |
66 and 8 months |
|
1959 |
66 and 10 months |
|
1960 or later |
67 |
Data source: Social Security Administration.
3. You're delaying your claim past FRA
Let's say your spouse earned enough money during their career to qualify for Social Security. In that case, there's an incentive for your spouse to delay their Social Security claim past FRA. For each year they do so, up until age 70, their monthly benefit gets a permanent 8% boost.
But the rules are different for spousal benefits. These benefits are not eligible for the same boost as primary benefits. So there's really no sense in delaying your spousal benefit claim past your own FRA, since it won't result in more money.
Furthermore, if you wait too long to claim spousal benefits, you might lose out on some Social Security income permanently. Social Security will pay up to six months of retroactive benefits for people who delay their claims longer than what makes sense. But beyond that point, you may be out of luck.
Let's say your FRA is 67, but you don't claim your Social Security spousal benefits until age 68. In that case, you may be out six months' worth of Social Security income.
The rules surrounding Social Security spousal benefits can be a bit confusing. So your best bet is to try to familiarize yourself with them ahead of retirement. That way, you can avoid unpleasant surprises, and also potentially avoid a scenario where you lose out on money.
