Two Social Security Rules Every Married Couple Needs to Understand

If you are married, Social Security claiming rules become more complicated than if you are single. That’s because your benefits claiming decision does not just affect you. It can affect your spouse as well. Specifically, there are two rules about claiming Social Security benefits that every married couple should understand before either spouse files to begin receiving their benefits.

Here are those two rules. 

1. Spousal benefits are available — but only after the primary earner has claimed their benefits

The first key thing every married couple should know is that it’s possible for the lower-earning spouse to claim spousal benefits on the work record of the higher-earning spouse.

Spousal benefits can equal up to 50% of the primary earner’s standard benefit. If the lower-earner claims spousal benefits early, this amount will shrink. However, delayed retirement credits cannot be earned on spousal benefits. Regardless of whether these benefits are claimed at full retirement age or later, they will never grow bigger than 50% of the primary earner’s standard benefit. 

There’s a bit of a catch when it comes to spousal benefits, though. They cannot be claimed until the higher-earning spouse has started their own retirement checks. This means, for example, that if a lower-earning wife wants to claim benefits on her husband’s work record, she is going to have to wait until her husband claims his retirement benefits before she can do that. The same is true if a lower-earning husband wants to claim benefits on the work record of a breadwinning wife. 

This can actually work to a couple’s advantage in some cases. The lower-earning spouse could claim his or her own retirement benefits before the higher-earner. They can collect those benefits until the higher earner claims retirement benefits. This would then unlock the spousal benefit that wasn’t previously available. The lower earner would switch over to it. It wouldn’t matter so much if the lower earner claimed their own benefit early and was hit with early-filing penalties, since they’d be making this switch anyway. 

2. An early claim will shrink Social Security survivor benefits

The second big thing that every married couple needs to know is that survivor benefits are available after the death of either partner. If both spouses have claimed Social Security already, the person who dies last gets to keep the higher of the two benefits that were coming into the household.

Unfortunately, if a higher-earning spouse claims benefits early, this can permanently shrink survivor benefits. Couples need to be aware of this and take this factor into account when they decide when the higher earner should file for benefits for the first time. Since the death of a spouse can cause a lot of financial upheaval, and since an early claim by the partner who earned more money could leave a widow or widower struggling, the higher earner should think very carefully before making an early benefits claim.

Since these rules can get complicated, and there are a lot of competing factors to weigh, married couples may want to get help from a financial advisor as they decide which Social Security claiming strategy will make sense for the couple over the long-term.