Hi Larry. I am currently collecting divorced spousal social security since September 2018. My FRA was 8-1952.

My question is: If I decide to start my own social security with January 2019 as the start date, will I receive my social security amount from 8-2018 or will the 4 delayed credits be included in the January 2019 payment.

It would be good to have the 4 delayed credits included in the Jan.2019 payment instead of waiting for a recalculate of the 4 delayed credits at some time in the future. Thank you for your help and advise.

Hi,

Yes, if you file for Social Security retirement benefits between your full retirement age (FRA) and age 70 AND your month of entitlement is January, your initial benefit rate would include all of the delayed retirement credits (DRC) to which you're entitled.

I don't know what your circumstances are, but assuming that your own retirement benefit rate is higher than your divorced spousal rate you should think long and hard before deciding to switch to your own record prior to age 70. Your own retirement rate would continue to grow by 8% per year until you reach age 70 as long as you don't opt to start drawing your own benefits until then, so there's a very good chance that waiting until age 70 might be the best way to maximize your benefits. You may want to strongly consider using our software in order to compare your options before making your decision about when to file for your own benefits.

Best, Jerry