I will be filing for benefits at 62. My spouse will file for the spousal benefit a few years later, at 66. Will the spousal benefit be half of my full benefit? Or half of my reduced benefit? Thanks!

Your spouse's spousal benefit will be half of your full retirement age benefit.
Best,
Mike

I hope you have time to answer an email. My husband retired and started SS at 66 then went back to work part time a year later ( he is now 69). I retired and started spousal benefits at 66 (I'm now 67). Subsequently, SS has increased his monthly earnings because of recalculation that replaced lower earning years, however, my spousal has not increased to match 1/2 of his current monthly. Your Dec. 2014 Forbes article seemed to indicate my

I am 62 and taking ss now, i found out my wife cant get 1/2 of mine when she is 66 because she turned 62 in Feb 2016, is this true. I hope not, it would only be 600 a month, but we would need it and we want her to wait till 70 to draw ss.

Hi,

I am 61 and working. My wife, who worked in public education and thus never contributed to social security, is 68. Can she file for spousal benefits at this time? If so, should she file and suspend?

Thanks!

Hi,

Your wife can't be entitled on your account until you are. You must either be disabled or at least age 62 to be entitled on your account, so she couldn't be eligible for spousal benefits now.

I am 67 years old, retired, and have a good retirement benefit from my working for 37 years from the University of California. I did not contribute to Social Security and my UC pension is quite good (over $6,000 per month). My husband has paid into Social Security for 40 years. He is now 69, retired, and also has a pension from UC. He is waiting until he is 70 to begin collecting Social Security. I have two questions: 1) Am I able to collect any spousal benefits from now until he begins collecting? 2) If he dies, will I receive any spousal benefits? Thanks.

My wife has been collecting SS under her earning for the last 3 years. This year she reaches her full retirement age of 66. Can she switch then to SS spousal benefits, based on 1/2 of my PIA? This would result in a slight increase ($50/mth) in benefits.

Hi,

I recently retired at 66 February 2016 and filed and suspend. My benefit is 2188 monthly. My wife retires at 66 October 2016 with benefit of 2208 monthly. Social Security agent stated my wife could file and defer until 70.5 and collect spousal benefits.
Question: can my wife file for deferred benefit at 66 and then collect spousal benefit?

Thanks in advance
Howard

Hi, I am 73 and have been collecting SS since I turned 62. My wife will be 66 next April. Can she file and suspend until she reaches 70 and still collect Spousal benefits between 66 and 70? I know there have been some changes recently that may prevent this strategy but I've also heard that you can do this. If she can, what is her benefit based on, my current benefit or my full benefit if I had waited until age 66 to file? Thanks, Bill