Can a spouse collect on her husband's social security if she reaches retirement age before her husband? No. In order for a wife to collect Social Security benefits on her husband's earnings several requirements have to be satisfied:
1. The wife is required to be at least age 62
2. The husband must be eligible for benefits, consequently he must also be at least age 62. In addition, the husband will have to actually apply for Social Security retirement benefits in order for his wife to collect based on his income. The husband can then decide to postpone collecting benefits. This strategy is referred to as "file and suspend".
To give you an example, if the wife is 62 and the husband is 59, the wife can begin collecting benefits based on her earnings, but she can not collect based on her husband's earnings until he turns 62 and starts collecting his own benefits.
However, if the wife is 66 and her spouse is 62, then the wife can start collecting based on her husband's earnings (remember, the husband must submit an application for his Social Security before the wife can collect based on his earnings).
In both instances above, the wife can start collecting benefits based on her own earnings at age 62 (assuming she has a minimum of 40 quarters of earnings and qualifies for benefits on her own), then change to 1 / 2 her husband's benefit when her husband becomes eligible for Social Security.
A few points to think about before applying for benefits:
If a wife applies for her Social Security spousal benefit calculated on her husband's income when she reaches full retirement age (age 66 for people retiring now), then she will receive 50% of her husband's primary insurance amount (PIA). However, if she applies for her spousal benefit at age 62, her benefit will only be 35% of her husband's PIA.
It doesn't benefit the spouse to apply after her full retirement age, as spousal benefits do not include delayed credits. Additionally, it doesn't help the wife if the husband waits to apply for benefits because she will not receive any rise in benefits that he receives by waiting to apply.
If a spouse reaches full retirement age and is qualified to apply for the spousal benefit or her own benefit, she may claim the spousal benefit now and hold off collecting her own benefit so she can build up delayed credits on her own benefit.
You can collect Social Security spousal benefits based on an ex-spouse's earnings so long as you were married for not less than 10 years and you are at present unmarried. If you have more than one ex-spouse that you qualify for spousal benefits, you will receive the largest benefit you qualify for. One benefit that divorced spouses have over married spouses is the fact that a divorced spouse doesn't have to wait for a former husband to apply for benefits as long as the couple has been divorced not less than 2 yrs when she applies.
Finally, the Social Security retirement system is gender neutral, so though this article assumes that the wife is the one applying for spousal benefits, if the wife earns more than her husband, the husband can apply for Social Security benefits based on his wife's earnings.
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