My husband's PIA is $2,852
His a family maximum is $4,992
My son's ssdi on his own record is $1,413
My son's dac on his father's record is $13
I recently applied for my benefits and spousal benefits
My benefit is $1,016
My spousal benefit is $20
I believe Social Security made a mistake when they calculated my spousal benefits.
I believe this happened because both my son and I have dual entitlement.
After subtracting my husband's PIA from family maximum the amount is $2,140.
Out of that amount they are giving my son $13 and me $20.
Can I remove my son from dac since he only gets $13? Or will this hurt his own ssdi?
Thank you in advance for your response. Ruthie

Hi Ruthie. The only way that your son could be taken off of DAC (Disabled Adult Child) benefits is if he withdraws his application for those benefits and repays any DAC benefits he's received to date. Doing so wouldn't adversely affect his Social Security disability (SSDI) benefits, but I don't have enough information to tell you withdrawing your son's claim would allow you to be paid a higher spousal rate.

I assume that if you are entitled to your own Social Security retirement benefits then your son has also established technical entitlement to DAC benefits on your account. That would allow your family maximum benefit (FMB) to be combined with your husband's FMB to potentially allow more family benefits to be paid. Judging just from the amounts cited in your question, Social Security must have combined your and your husband's FMBs or else neither you or your son would be getting any spousal or DAC benefits.

As it stands, your son is apparently getting the most he could possibly receive, which is a total of 50% of his father's PIA (Primary Insurance Amount). You don't mention your birth date, but since you are receiving significantly less than your son then I assume that the reason you aren't getting more is because you claimed benefits prior to your full retirement age (FRA). And, even if your son withdrew his claim for DAC benefits, that wouldn't remove any reduction for age that applies to your benefits. In other words, if the reason that you are getting less than 50% of your husband's PIA is not due to the FMB but instead is due to a reduction for age, then withdrawing your son's DAC claim wouldn't increase your benefit rate.

You may want to consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to fully analyze all of your options so that you can determine your best strategy for maximizing your family's benefits.

Best, Jerry