Many times the question comes up – Since my spouse has filed for Social Security retirement benefits, can I file for only the Spousal Benefit?
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This is a complicated question with two answers, depending on your date of birth. This is because there are two different rules: one that applies if you were born before 1954 and one if you were born in 1954 or after. These rules came into effect in 2016, after passage of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015.
It is certainly possible for the individual born before 1954 who is at or over Full Retirement Age (FRA). This is a common circumstance that many folks employ, although the number of people who can employ this is diminishing. One spouse files for benefits and the other, hoping to achieve the full Delayed Retirement Credits (DRCs) while still receiving a benefit, files for the Spousal Benefit only. This is a perfectly allowable method, but only for folks born on or before January 1, 1954.
If you’re under FRA (no matter when you were born), the option for filing solely for a spousal benefit is not available. This is because, prior to FRA, if you file for the Spousal Benefit, you are deemed to have filed for your own benefit as well. This is known as “deemed filing”, and it applies in all circumstances when you’re under FRA. The result of this action is that your own benefit will be permanently reduced, as will the Spousal Benefit that you’re filing for early as well. The reverse is true as well: if you file for your own benefit before FRA and you’re also eligible for a spousal benefit, you are deemed to have filed for both benefits at the same time. If you are not eligible for the spousal benefit at the time of your filing for your own benefit, as soon as you become eligible for the spousal benefit, deemed filing requires that you have automatically filed for the spousal benefit.
The group of people born before 1954 will all be at or older than FRA by January 1, 2020, so this group’s decision process is coming to an end. Let’s look at how deemed filing works for folks born in 1954 or later.
For anyone born on or after January 2, 1954, deemed filing has a very absolute application. In any case where you’re eligible for both a spousal benefit and your own retirement benefit, deemed filing will require that any application for benefits is an application for both benefits. No matter whether you’re over, under, or exactly at FRA, you can no longer separate these benefits.
If you are not eligible for a spousal benefit when you first file for your own retirement benefit, of course you’ll only be filing for the benefit that you’re currently eligible for. But as soon as you become eligible for a spousal benefit (because your spouse filed for his or her own benefit), you are deemed to have filed for the spousal benefit in the first month of your eligibility.
Deemed filing only applies to your own benefit and the spousal benefit. If you are eligible, for example, for both your own benefit and a survivor benefit, you can separate these two benefits in your filing, regardless of your age and date of birth. You could file for your own benefit at one age (perhaps before FRA) and delay the survivor benefit until you reach FRA (when it is maximized). The reverse is also true: If you’re eligible for a survivor benefit, you could file for the survivor benefit only and delay filing for your own benefit until as late as age 70, when your retirement benefit is maximized. The earlier filing for either benefit has no impact on the later filing for the other.