Do you know the differences in how Social Security treats a widow as opposed to an ex-spouse? It’s important to understand these distinctions
Spousal Benefit
Calculating the Spousal Benefit
The Spousal Benefit is one of the most confusing aspects of the Social Security retirement benefit system. It may be vaguely familiar that the spouse with the lower wage base is eligible for 50% of the higher wage base spouse’s benefit, or something like that… How is the Spousal Benefit actually calculated? Calculating the Spousal Benefit Here’s how the Spousal Benefit is calculated: First of all, the Spousal Benefit is based upon a differential – between 50% of the other spouse’s Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) and his or her own PIA. So what’s the calculation? Let’s look at an example: Let’s say there’s a couple, both the same age with a Full Retirement Age (FRA) of 66, and the wife has a substantially lower wage base (and therefore a lower benefit) than the husband. At age 62, she files for the her own reduced benefit based on her own record, […]
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Social Security Spousal Benefit for a Divorcee
Recently we talked about the spousal benefit for Social Security retirement benefits. It is also important to note that similar benefits are available to a divorcee. A divorced spouse is eligible for a Social Security retirement benefit based upon the PIA (Primary Insurance Amount) of his or her ex-spouse under the following conditions: he or she is at least 62 years of age the couple was married for ten years or longer he or she is not currently married he or she is not eligible for a benefit (on his or her own record or another ex-spouse’s record) that would be greater than the benefit based on this particular ex-spouse’s record The divorcée’s former spouse does not have to have applied for benefits, as long as the couple have been divorced for at least two years when he or she applies for the spousal benefit. However, the former spouse must […]
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Understand Deemed Filing to Avoid a Surprise in Your SS Strategy
There’s nothing worse than feeling as if you have your Social Security filing strategy all lined out, when a rule like deemed filing rears its ugly head to throw your strategy off track. Here’s an example: Steve and his wife Edie are ages 66 and 61 respectively. The plan is for Steve to file for his Social Security benefit now (at his Full Retirement Age), and for Edie to file for her own benefit when she reaches age 62. Then Edie will wait until she reaches Full Retirement Age of 66 to file for the Spousal Benefit based on Steve’s record, which will increase her benefit by $500 at that time.
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File & Suspend and Restricted Application are NOT Equal
Note: with the passage of the Bipartisan Budget Bill of 2015 into law, File & Suspend and Restricted Application have been effectively eliminated for anyone born in 1954 or later. If born before 1954 there are some options still available, but these are limited as well. Please see the article The Death of File & Suspend and Restricted Application for more details. We’ve discussed the Social Security filing options of File & Suspend and Restricted Application many times before, but it seems that folks continue to confuse these two options. It’s easy to see why: one (File & Suspend) can be used to enable the other (Restricted Application). Also, neither option is available until the individual is at least at Full Retirement Age (FRA). It’s important to know the difference between File & Suspend and Restricted Application though – primarily because if you confuse the two when talking to the […]
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7 Questions About Divorcee Social Security Benefits
Included in the myriad of questions that I regularly receive from readers are questions about how a divorced person can collect benefits based upon his or her ex-spouse’s Social Security record. For a divorcee (as with many married couples) sometimes the ex’s benefits represent the lion’s share of the couple’s SS record. Because of this, many divorcees are very interested in knowing what benefits are available to them, and when. In addition, even when the divorced spouse in question is not the higher earner there are questions about benefits that can be quite difficult to find answers for.
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10 questions: Social Security Spousal Benefits
Note: with the passage of the Bipartisan Budget Bill of 2015 into law, File & Suspend and Restricted Application have been effectively eliminated for anyone born in 1954 or later. If born before 1954 there are some options still available, but these are limited as well. Please see the article The Death of File & Suspend and Restricted Application for more details. I recently had the pleasure of taking part in a live interactive event with Yahoo! Finance, where folks were able to ask virtually any question they wished. We received and responded to over 200 questions – they’re all on Facebook on the Yahoo! Finance page (click the link to go to the page). One recurring theme played out over and over: Social Security Spousal Benefits are not understood by a vast number of folks. Naturally I find this to be disturbing. Social Security Spousal Benefits often represent a […]
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Social Security Filing Strategies for Surviving Spouses
There are a couple of strategies for Social Security filing that surviving spouses can use to maximize benefits throughout their lifetimes. The important factor to keep in mind for the surviving spouse is that filing for Survivor Benefits (based on your late spouse’s record) has no impact on filing for Social Security benefits based on your own record – other than the fact that you cannot file for both benefits at the same time. Coordinating these two benefits (Surviving Spouse benefits and your own benefits) can take a couple of different paths: you could file for the Surviving Spouse benefit first, allowing your own benefit to accrue Delay Credits up to as late as age 70; or you could file for your own benefit first, and then later file for the Surviving Spouse benefit. Sue’s husband Steve passed away when Sue was 61 years of age. Steve had just turned […]
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Can Both Spouses File and Suspend?
Note: with the passage of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 into law, File & Suspend and Restricted Application have been effectively eliminated for anyone born in 1954 or later. If born before 1954 there are some options still available, but these are limited as well. Please see the article The Death of File & Suspend and Restricted Application for more details. This question continues to come up in my interactions with readers, so I thought I’d run through some more examples to illustrate the options and issues. The question is: Can both spouses file and suspend upon reaching Full Retirement Age, and collect the Spousal Benefit on the other spouse’s record, allowing our own benefit(s) to increase to age 70? Regarding file & suspend and taking spousal benefits, although technically both of you could file and suspend at the same time, only one of you *might* receive spousal benefits […]
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Calculating the Reduced Social Security Spousal Benefit
Among the pile of very confusing calculations for various Social Security benefits is the incredibly confusing Spousal Benefit. This calculation becomes even more confusing when filed for prior to Full Retirement Age (FRA), as it is further reduced. Briefly, the maximum amount that a Spousal Benefit can be is 50% of the other spouse’s Primary Insurance Amount (PIA). PIA, if you’ll recall, is equivalent to the amount of benefit that the other spouse would receive in benefits at his or her own Full Retirement Age. The calculation is actually a bit more complicated than that. The Spousal Benefit for Jane (on her husband John’s record) is calculated as follows: John’s PIA times 50% minus Jane’s PIA times the early-filing reduction factor That amount is then added to Jane’s benefit, which could be reduced by filing early or enhanced by Delayed Retirement Credits for filing later, to come up with Jane’s […]
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The Restricted Application for Social Security Spousal Benefits
Note: with the passage of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 into law, File & Suspend and Restricted Application have been effectively eliminated for anyone born in 1954 or later. If born before 1954 there are some options still available, but these are limited as well. Please see the article The Death of File & Suspend and Restricted Application for more details. One provision of Social Security benefits that is relatively unknown is the restricted application for Spousal Benefits. This provision allows a person to apply for benefits based upon his or her spouse’s record while delaying receipt of benefits based upon his or her own record. The restricted application is only available when three factors have been met: 1 – the individual filing the restricted application has reached Full Retirement Age (FRA); and 2 – the individual has not filed for his or her own Retirement Benefit; and 3 […]
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