Dear Liz: My wife has been married for 15 years and is now 58, and I am 62. She is a military widow and was married to her previous husband for 17 years until his death.
Since she married me, I don’t think she is eligible to receive a pension based on her deceased spouse’s social security record. Is that true?
Can she instead take a much smaller benefit starting at age 62? I plan to wait to file until I’m 70. Can she switch from her reduced amount at age 67 to half my amount?
Other advice
answer: You are correct that your marriage will prevent your wife from receiving survivor benefits based on her former spouse’s earnings record. Only people who marry after age 60 can receive survivor benefits from their deceased spouse while married to their surviving spouse. Also, if your current marriage ends, your wife will be eligible to receive survivor benefits from her former husband.
Survivor benefits can be claimed from age 60, or from age 50 if the surviving spouse is disabled, or at any age if the surviving spouse is raising a child of the deceased who is under 16 or disabled. Retirement benefits and spousal benefits, on the other hand, can be claimed from age 62.
But starting this early means her checks will be significantly reduced: Her benefits are also subject to an earnings test that reduces her benefit by $1 for every $2 she earns above a certain amount: $22,320 in 2024. The earnings test ends at full retirement age, which in her case is 67.
Your wife cannot claim spousal benefits until you apply for your own benefits, but once you do, she can switch out of her own benefits.
Because there are several complicating factors in this situation, you may want to consider using a paid service such as Maximize My Social Security or Social Security Solutions to research the best claims strategy.
Liz Weston, Certified Financial Planner Otaku Wallet. If you have any questions, please send them to us at 3940 Laurel Canyon, No. 238, Studio City, CA 91604 or use our “Contact Us” form. Visit asklizweston.com.
