I am 70 years old and was retired 9-1-1999 on a disability retirement after 29 years service on the railroad. My spouse would like to retire at age 64 which would be in April 2019 and apply for her railroad spouse pension which is less than what her Social Security would be and than wait til age 70 to apply for the S.S.benefits, would she receive full S.S. benefits? And what if any amount would her R.R.B. benefits be reduced?

Hi,

Yes, if your wife waits until age 70 to claim her Social Security (SS) retirement benefits she'll be paid her full age 70 benefit rate inclusive of the delayed retirement credits (DRC) she'd earn between full retirement age (FRA) and age 70. Whether or not she's been drawing Railroad Retirement (RR) benefits before then is irrelevant to the computation of her SS benefit rate.

Once your wife starts drawing her SS benefits, her RR tier 1 benefits will stop assuming that her SS benefit rate is higher than her tier 1 RR rate. However, in addition to her SS benefits your wife could still be paid any tier 2 RR benefits for which she qualifies.

Best, Jerry