Spousal Benefits: Applying For Social Security Benefits
Can a non-working wife 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 needs to be eligible to receive benefits, so he should also be at least age 62. Furthermore, the husband is required to actually apply for Social Security retirement benefits in order for his wife to receive benefits based on his income. The husband can then choose to postpone receiving benefits. This strategy is known as "file and suspend".
To give you an example, if the wife is 62 and the husband is 58, the wife can start collecting benefits based on her income, but she won't be able collect based on her husband's income until he becomes 62 and applies for benefits.
However, if the wife is 66 and her spouse is only 62, then the wife can begin collecting calculated on her husband's income (again the husband must apply for his benefits before the spouse will be able to collect based upon his income).
In both cases above, the wife can begin collecting benefits based on her own earnings as early as age 62 (assuming she's got as a minimum 40 quarters of earnings and qualifies for benefits on her own), then she can switch to 1 / 2 of her husband's benefit when her husband becomes eligible for Social Security.
A couple of points to consider before applying for benefits:
If a wife applies for her Social Security spousal benefit calculated on her husband's income when she attains full retirement age (age 66 for folks retiring now), then she will collect 50% of her husband's primary insurance amount (PIA). However, if she starts receiving benefits at age 62, then 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. Furthermore, it doesn't help the wife if the husband delays applying for benefits because she won't get any increase in benefits that he will get by waiting to apply.
When a spouse reaches full retirement age and becomes qualified to apply for a spousal benefit or her own benefit, she may start receiving the spousal benefit now and hold off collecting her own benefit so she can accumulate delayed credits on her own benefit.
You can collect Social Security spousal benefits based on an ex-spouse's earnings so long as you were married for a minimum of ten years and you are also presently unmarried. If you have more than one ex-spouse that you meet the requirements for spousal benefits, you'll receive the maximum benefit you qualify for. One advantage that divorced spouses have over married spouses is the fact that a divorced spouse does not have to wait for a former husband to start collecting benefits as long as the couple is divorced for not less than 2 yrs when she applies.
As a final point, the Social Security retirement program is gender neutral, so although 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.