Hi

I am 67 and applied for and suspended my SS benefit before the April 2016 deadline. My wife turned 64 in November 2017 and applied for her SS benefits based on her own work record. At the same time, I applied for spousal benefits on her work record which a SS employee at the face-to-face, local office said that I could do. After a long delay, I received a letter saying that my application was denied because I could receive greater benefits by applying for my own benefits.

Based on that denial, my wife applied to add spousal benefits to her SS benefit. This was what a different SS office (she applied online) had earlier said she had to do. They said I could not receive spousal benefits but that she could. She did not take those benefits at the time because I was intending to apply for spousal benefits and I knew we both couldn’t get them. However, when she applied a few days ago at our local office she was was told that she could not receive spousal benefits because I had suspended my benefits.

I’m confused. What is the right answer?

Michael

Hi Michael,

Once you file for your own retirement benefits, even if you've suspended them, you can only qualify for spousal benefits if your full retirement age rate (PIA) is less than 50% of your spouse's PIA. So, the denial of your claim for spousal benefits was likely correct.

However, if your PIA is more than twice as much as your wife's PIA then she should be able to receive spousal benefits from your record even while your benefits are suspended, provided that you filed for and suspended your benefits prior to the April 30 2016 deadline (https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/suspendfaq.html).

Therefore, if your wife's PIA is in fact less than 50% of your PIA, then it sounds like she should be able to receive her spousal benefits. In fact, if that's the case then your wife would have been deemed to have filed for spousal benefits when she filed for her own benefits back in November, since she was filing for benefits prior to her full retirement age (https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/deemedfaq.html). If your wife was dissuaded by the Social Security representative from filing for spousal benefits then she will likely need to re-contact them to complete her spousal application.

However, if your wife's PIA is close to or more than 50% of your PIA then her best strategy may have been to file just for spousal benefits only at full retirement age and allow her own benefits to grow until age 70. She would have that option as long as she was born prior to January 2 1954. Your wife may want to consider using our maximization software to determine if this would be the best strategy in her case. If it is, though, she would need to withdraw the application(s) that she's previously filed and repay any benefits that she's received to date (https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/withdrawal.html).

Best, Jerry