Here's How to Tell If You Qualify for Spousal Social Security Benefits

Your monthly Social Security benefit depends a lot on your earnings history. The more you earn, the more you pay in Social Security payroll taxes (up to a certain amount), and the higher your monthly benefit will be in retirement.

The problem is that not everyone has a long or consistent work history. Some people work lower-wage jobs, some have sporadic work histories, some take time off work to raise kids, and some become caregivers, which limits how much they can work.

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Whatever the case, a positive about Social Security is that you don't have to have an extensive work history to receive Social Security benefits; you can receive Social Security spousal benefits based on your partner's monthly benefit.

By claiming Social Security spousal benefits, you can receive up to 50% of your spouse's primary insurance amount, assuming they're at their full retirement age (FRA). If this sounds like a route that may benefit you, here are a few things you should know.

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Qualifying for Social Security spousal benefits

You must meet three criteria to be eligible for Social Security spousal benefits. The first two requirements, which everyone must meet, are that you must be married for at least one year and that your spouse must currently receive retirement benefits. Once those two boxes are checked, one of the following must be true:

• You're at least 62 years old (the earliest age anyone can claim Social Security).
• You're caring for a child under 16.
• You're caring for a child with a disability that began before age 22.

The one exception is if you're currently divorced from someone you were married to for at least 10 years and are currently unmarried. If you remarry while receiving spousal benefits, you can expect them to be cut off.

How Social Security benefits are affected by your claiming age

One thing is true for both Social Security retiree and spousal benefits: Claiming before your FRA will reduce your monthly benefit amount. The difference is that spousal benefits are reduced by more than retiree benefits. Here are FRAs by birth year:

Data source: The Motley Fool.

Assuming an FRA of 67, here is how much benefits are reduced by at different claiming ages:

Data source: Social Security Administration.

As an example, let's imagine your spouse (the one claiming benefits based on their work history) receives $2,000 in monthly benefits. If you were to claim at 63, your monthly benefit would be $700 instead of $1,000 (50% of your spouse's monthly benefit, plus the 30% reduction).

You can claim your own benefits before spousal benefits

If your spouse is younger or wants to claim benefits later than you, this doesn't mean you can't receive Social Security. You can claim your own Social Security benefits, and then switch to spousal benefits, assuming the other criteria mentioned have been met.

A key point is that Social Security will give you whatever benefit is higher between the two. In most cases, it would be the spousal benefits. Otherwise, you wouldn't need to claim spousal benefits instead of your own.

Let's assume your monthly benefit is $600 when you claim your own benefits. If your spouse's benefit when they claim is $2,000 (meaning you're eligible for up to $1,000), Social Security would add the extra amount to your benefit to bring it up to the right amount. In this case, you'd receive your $600 monthly benefit plus the additional $400 (assuming you're claiming at your FRA).

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