My wife's FRA (66) benefit is $900. Her spousal benefit on my FRA amount is $1300. She is one year older than me. I plan to wait until 70 to file. If she files for her benefit at FRA, would she later be able to get her spousal benefit when I file? I thought she could do that and I understand it would be only the larger amount ($1300) and not both. Gotcha #2 from your book seems to indicate she could not get the spousal benefit once she has filed for her own.

thanks

Hi,

Yes, your wife can start her own benefit at full retirement age, and later get an excess spousal benefit when you start drawing. And, based on your figures, her total benefit would be $1300 (i.e. $900 + $400) when she starts getting the excess spousal benefit.

Gotcha #2 in the book states: 'Once you file for your retirement benefits, you can never take an auxiliary benefit by itself.', which is correct. If your wife starts receiving auxiliary/spousal benefits after first filing for her own benefit, she will receive her own benefit amount plus an excess spousal benefit, not the auxiliary benefit by itself.

Depending on your dates of birth, you and your wife may have additional filing options. You may wish to consider running the maximization software available on this website if you haven't already done so.

Best, Jerry