I've found a ton of examples that are somewhat opposite the situation I am in.

My wife is 4 years older than me. She plans to take Social Security at 67. I will be 63. If I plan to also wait until 67, can I claim the spousal benefit from her SS? Meaning from my age 63-67 I would get half her benefit and then at 67 claim my own benefit instead?

I'm assuming this isn't allowed but it's hard to find this scenario online.

Hopefully, our resident expert who worked for social security will be along. It is an incredibly complicated program with many rules. They like to change the rules from time to time as well.

Call your local S.S. office, they were more than happy to explain how the spousal benefit works to my wife and me when she wanted to start collecting before her full retirement age.
Also if you plan on continuing working it can affect your benefit.
ZSMICHAEL is correct it is complicated and you may have to game out different situations depending what you want to accomplish.

Not an expert but I have an in-law that did this and if I recall correctly he could only do this because he was born prior to 1965.

so you are asking if she files and gets her full benefit. If you can not file yourself but still get another half of hers until you do file?
Guessing that won't fly.

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
so you are asking if she files and gets her full benefit. If you can not file yourself but still get another half of hers until you do file?
Guessing that won't fly.

You used to be able to file and suspend your own account while still getting spousal benefits, but I think they changed the law recently and made it more restrictive. I filed for full benefits at 67 and the wife received half my benefit until she turned 70 when she switched to her benefit that was larger due to the extra 8% per year X 4 years. Pretty sure you can’t do it exactly like that anymore, but definitely call your local SS office to find out what’s allowed these days.

https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/quickcalc/spouse.html

"When a worker files for retirement benefits, the worker's spouse may be eligible for a benefit based on the worker's earnings. Another requirement is that the spouse must be at least age 62 or have a qualifying child in her/his care. By a qualifying child, we mean a child who is under age 16 or who receives Social Security disability benefits.

The spousal benefit can be as much as half of the worker's "primary insurance amount," depending on the spouse's age at retirement. If the spouse begins receiving benefits before "normal (or full) retirement age," the spouse will receive a reduced benefit. However, if a spouse is caring for a qualifying child, the spousal benefit is not reduced.

If a spouse is eligible for a retirement benefit based on his or her own earnings, and if that benefit is higher than the spousal benefit, then we pay the retirement benefit. Otherwise we pay the spousal benefit."

As I understand it, you can file for SS at your minimum age (62), and then SS will calculate which benefit is higher for you. Either your own early reduced SS or a portion of your wife's amount (based on when both you and she filed).

If you file early, you get a % of what she is getting. What she is getting is based on when she files. So, if she waits until full retirement age she will get her full SS. If you file at your full age you would get either half of hers or all of yours. But if you file early, you get a reduction from her half.

I just put into the link above filing at age 62. It says the person would get 33.96% of their spouse's SS.

I don't believe you can take some of hers while waiting until later to file for your own. That was the old "file and suspend" which was terminated a year or two ago.

I believe this is what you are looking for. It is current information that is directly from SSA. There has been a lot of confusion about this issue, especially because the law changed in 2016. Some people who are not aware of the change in the law are still giving advice and information based on the old law.

Read the link carefully. I believe your situation fits into example #1. But like I said read the information very carefully. Ask any questions you have when you file.

In these multiple entitlement situations I have grown reluctant to say "you should do this" because there are other things you might be considering that I haven't covered.

https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/r...lanner/claiming.html

Also see below. tssmccull is correct.

You used to be able to file and suspend your own account while still getting spousal benefits, but I think they changed the law recently and made it more restrictive. I filed for full benefits at 67 and the wife received half my benefit until she turned 70 when she switched to her benefit that was larger due to the extra 8% per year X 4 years. Pretty sure you can’t do it exactly like that anymore, but definitely call your local SS office to find out what’s allowed these days.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I was hoping you would come through.

Thanks. I think this clarifies it. Can’t do what I was thinking. Not the end of the world. Just learning about this stuff. I have time.