In most cases, delaying Social Security benefits is a smart move for retirees. Benefits can be claimed starting at 62, but putting off a claim until 70 pushes your monthly payment higher. The Social Security formula was designed to equalize total lifetime payouts between early and late claimers, but because lifespans have grown longer since the formula was created, waiting until 70 actually gives most people the best chance at the most lifetime income. Research suggests roughly 7 in 10 retirees come out ahead by waiting.
There is, however, one situation where retirees should definitely not put off their Social Security claim. Here’s what it is.
Do not delay your Social Security benefits claim if this applies to you
You should not wait to claim Social Security if you are planning to claim spousal benefits and you have already reached your full retirement age.
Full retirement age depends on birth year, and it is 67 for anyone born in 1960 or later. For individuals turning 62 in 2026 (those born in 1964), that FRA is exactly 67. The maximum monthly benefit available to a primary earner claiming at full retirement age has risen to $4,152 in 2026. After the 2.8% cost-of-living adjustment that took effect in January 2026, the average monthly benefit for a retired worker stands at $2,071. That figure sets the baseline for spousal calculations: the average 50% spousal benefit works out to roughly $1,035 per month. Claim at full retirement age and you receive exactly 50% of your spouse’s primary insurance amount. Claim before FRA and the benefit is permanently reduced. Claim after FRA, though, and you receive nothing extra for the wait.
This is different from people who claim on their own work record. Workers who file their own retirement benefits early face the same permanent reduction for claiming before FRA. But workers also have access to delayed retirement credits, which boost their payments by 2/3 of 1% for each month they wait beyond FRA, up to age 70. For someone with an FRA of 67, that works out to a 24% increase in monthly benefits, a meaningful gain over a long retirement.
Spousal benefit claimants cannot earn those delayed retirement credits. Waiting past FRA does not add a single dollar to a spousal check. Every month of delay past FRA is simply income left on the table.
Understand the rules for when you can claim spousal benefits
One important caveat applies to all spousal benefits: you cannot claim them until your spouse has filed for their own retirement checks. If your spouse has not yet applied, your spousal claim has to wait, regardless of your own age.
Consider a straightforward example. Your husband was the higher earner, and you want to claim spousal benefits on his record. If he has not yet filed for retirement, you cannot file for spousal benefits until he does.
It often makes sense for the higher earner to delay as long as possible. Doing so increases their own monthly benefit, maximizes the household’s lifetime Social Security income, and pushes the survivor benefit as high as it can go, which matters greatly to the lower-earning spouse if the higher earner dies first. Depending on any age gap between spouses, this strategy can force the person waiting on spousal benefits to sit out for a while before any check arrives.
Take the same example with both spouses at age 70. It would make sense for the lower-earning spouse to claim spousal benefits right at FRA. But if the higher-earning husband was waiting to file until age 70, the spousal claim would have to wait as well.
A practical workaround exists for couples in this position. If the lower-earning spouse qualifies for their own retirement benefit (even a small one based on limited work history), they can claim that benefit at a younger age to bring some Social Security income into the household. When the higher-earning spouse eventually files, the lower-earning spouse can then switch to spousal benefits. Under current “deemed filing” rules, applying for either a personal or a spousal benefit automatically triggers an application for both, and Social Security pays out the higher of the two amounts.
Claiming a smaller personal benefit early while a spouse delays does come with a trade-off: the Retirement Earnings Test. For those under full retirement age for all of 2026, the Social Security Administration withholds $1 for every $2 earned above $24,480 per year. In the year a claimant reaches FRA, the threshold rises to $65,160, and the penalty drops to $1 withheld for every $3 earned above that limit, only through the month before the birthday. Once FRA arrives, the earnings test disappears entirely.
The divorced spouse exception to the waiting rule
Married couples must wait for the primary earner to file before spousal benefits can begin, but divorced individuals operate under a different set of rules. A divorced spouse can claim on an ex-partner’s work record without waiting for that ex-spouse to file, provided four conditions are met: the marriage lasted at least 10 consecutive years, the divorce has been final for at least two consecutive years, the claimant is currently unmarried, and the claimant is at least 62 years old. Crucially, filing this way has no effect on the ex-spouse’s own benefit amount or on any benefit available to a new partner if the ex-spouse has since remarried.
It is also worth noting that spousal benefits (up to 50% of the primary earner’s PIA) are distinct from survivor benefits. When a spouse dies, the surviving partner may be eligible for up to 100% of what the deceased was receiving. That distinction is one more reason why the higher earner delaying to 70 can be such a powerful long-term strategy: every additional dollar locked in at that stage becomes the floor of a potential survivor benefit for decades to come.
Social Security rules for married couples are genuinely complex, with different claiming ages, benefit caps, and exceptions intersecting in ways that can cost or save tens of thousands of dollars over a retirement. A financial advisor who specializes in Social Security optimization can model both spouses’ claiming ages together, helping couples find the strategy that puts the most money in their pockets over their lifetimes.
Editor’s note: This article was updated to add context on the distinction between spousal and survivor benefits, note that the 2026 Social Security trustees’ report projects trust fund reserves could run short by 2034, and confirm 2026 figures including the 2.8% COLA, the $2,071 average retired-worker benefit, the $4,152 maximum FRA benefit, and the $24,480 and $65,160 Retirement Earnings Test thresholds.
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