Hi Larry, I will turn 66 September 2018, my wife was born in1960 and she is receiving SS Disability. Can I collect spousal benefits on her disability while holding off on my own SS benefits until age 70? I have a much larger earning history than she has and want to provide the largest survivor benefits for her when I pass.

Hi,

Yes, you can file just for spousal benefits only at age 66 and allow your own benefit rate to grow until age 70. That would provide you with a 32% higher monthly benefit rate than you would receive at age 66, as well as potentially increasing your wife's widow's benefit by the same rate should you die before her.

The only potential catch is that there is a special family maximum formula that applies to Social Security disability (SSDI) records, which could limit your spousal benefits to as low as zero (https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/COLA/dibfamilymax.html). To find out if and how this formula may affect you, you may want to consider using the maximization software available on this website.

Best, Jerry