My wife is 66 and I am 62. I am the high wage earner. My wife will be taking FRA In March at age 66, 10 months. If I take early benefits at 65 will she qualify for the full 50% spousal benifit of my reduced claim? Should I wait till 67 for her to get the full 50%? Thanks.

Hi. As long as your wife is at least full retirement age (FRA) when you start drawing your benefits, her spousal rate will not be reduced for age even if you start drawing your benefits prior to your FRA. So, if she waits until FRA to start her own benefits and later qualifies for an excess spousal benefit when you start collecting, her combined benefit rate would equal 50% of your primary insurance amount (PIA). A person's PIA is equal to their Social Security retirement benefit rate if they start drawing their benefits at full retirement age (FRA).

For example, say Amy files for her benefits at FRA. Amy's primary insurance amount (PIA) is $800, so she receives that full amount since she waited until FRA to start drawing. Later on, Amy's husband applies for his benefits with a PIA of $2000. Amy's unreduced excess spousal rate would then be calculated by subtracting her PIA from 50% of her husband's PIA. That's true even if Amy's husband files early and gets a reduced benefit rate. So, in Amy's case, her excess spousal rate amounts to $200 (i.e. $2000/2 - $800), which would be added to her own benefit of $800 to give her a combined rate of $1000 (i.e. 50% of her husband's PIA).

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Best, Jerry