Social Security Payments: Are You Qualified for Spousal Benefits

Social Security payments for spousal benefits can be as much as half of the worker's "primary insurance amount," which depends on the spouse's age at retirement.

The worker's spouse may be eligible for Social Security spousal benefits based on the worker's earnings. One of the requirements includes that the spouse must be at least age 62 or have a qualifying child in his/her care.

Social Security Administration's rules stated that if the beneficiary's spouse qualified for benefits on their own record, they will be paid that amount first.

However, if the benefit on the beneficiary's record is higher, they will receive an additional amount on the beneficiary's record.

Beneficiaries' spouses will not be receiving any delayed retirement credits.

Social Security payments beneficiaries will not receive any reduction on the value of their Social Security benefits even if their spouses receive up to 50% of their benefits.

Social Security Spousal Benefits Eligibility

A current spouse must be at least 62 years old or be caring for a child under 16 or disabled to be eligible for spousal benefits.

In addition, the current spouse must also be married to a Social Security Retirement benefits recipient and should be married for at least a year to the beneficiary, according to Forbes.

They should also not be receiving a higher Social Security retirement benefit based on their own work earnings.

Spousal benefits are often more important to women than men due to women becoming more likely to leave the workforce in the meantime to take care of family members, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Work gaps can result in lesser years of contributions to the Social Security system.

Divorced spouses can also qualify for benefits based on their ex-spouse's work record if they are divorced from someone eligible for SSA benefits. They should be at least 62 years old and not married.

Original beneficiaries can withdraw their benefits if their ex-spouse remarried and their current spouse is collecting benefits based on the ex-spouse's work record.

In addition, divorced spouses can be entitled to the benefits if they were married to the Social Security recipient for at least 10 years before the divorce was finalized.

Divorced spouses should not also have a higher or equal amount of benefits from their own earnings history.

Social Security Benefits

The most collected benefits from Social Security are retirement benefits, Social Security Disability Insurance, and Supplemental Security Income.

When applying for retirement benefits, applicants must consider what month they want to start their retirement benefit, which could be between ages 62 and 70.

Applicants will be asked for information such as Social Security number, employment history, marriage records, and direct deposit details for benefit payments.

SSDI and SSI are for people who meet the requirements for disability. In these benefits, applicants would be asked to provide information about their marriage history, employment details, and records and documentation about their medical condition.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

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