My wife is 63 collecting SS disability I am 66 working with higher income could I collect spousal SS while I am still working

Hi,

Potentially, yes. If you were born prior to January 2 1954 and you haven't yet filed for your own Social Security benefits, you could file for spousal benefits at age 66 or later while letting your own benefit rate grow until age 70. However, a special formula is used to calculate the family maximum benefit (FMB) payable on Social Security disability (SSDI) accounts, and that formula can in some cases reduce the amounts payable to eligible spouses and children to zero (https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/COLA/dibfamilymax.html). That only occurs in cases where the worker's SSDI rate is relatively low, though.

If the FMB on your wife's SSDI account would lower your spousal benefit rate or reduce it to zero, it might be advantageous for her to opt to receive reduced retirement benefits as opposed to SSDI. That would lower your wife's benefit rate but can in some cases result in more total family benefits. And, as long as she remains technically entitled to SSDI while she's getting reduced retirement benefits, her benefit rate would go back up to her full SSDI rate when she reaches FRA.

It sounds like you may want to strongly consider using our maximization software to explore and compare your options in order to determine your optimal filing strategy.

Best, Jerry