For many couples, Social Security spousal benefits are a critical source of financial resources; even more so for those where one spouse has significantly lower earnings or has spent years being a stay-at-home parent or managing the household. Knowing the eligibility requirements and benefits involved can help make informed decisions about your retirement planning as we go into 2025. Here are four important things to know about spousal Social Security benefits.
1. Qualifying conditions for spousal benefits
The following conditions must be fulfilled to qualify for spousal Social Security benefits:
- Marriage duration: You must have been married for at least one year. This requirement makes the benefits available only to people in committed partnerships.
- Spouse’s benefit status: Your spouse must be receiving either Social Security retirement or disability benefits. If your spouse has not claimed their benefits, you cannot apply on their record until they do so.
- Age and caregiver status: You must meet one of the following:
- Be at least 62 years old.
- Be any age if you are caring for a child under 16 or a child with a disability who is entitled to benefits on your spouse’s record.
Divorced individuals may also be able to collect spousal benefits if they were married for at least ten years and meet similar requirements about their ex-spouse’s benefit status.
2. How benefits are calculated
The most you can get as a spousal benefit is up to 50% of your spouse’s Primary Insurance Amount (PIA), which is their benefit at Full Retirement Age (FRA), to know more on the benefits you’ll receive at your FRA, read this article, What is Full Retirement Age (FRA) for Social Security and wich is my benefit by year of birth in 2024?. In order for you to get the full 50%, you also have to be at your FRA, again, based on your birth year, that’s somewhere between ages 66 and 67 now.
If you claim spousal benefits before you reach your FRA, your monthly benefit will be reduced. Taking benefits at age 62 would cut your benefit by up to 35% from what it would have been if you’d waited until your FRA. That reduction would be calculated this way:
- A 5/9 of 1% reduction for each month that you have claimed before FRA for the first 36 months.
- A second reduction of 5/12 of 1% for each month earlier that benefit is claimed before the month of attainment of full retirement age.
3. Effect of the Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) in 2025
There will be a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) to Social Security recipients in January 2025 of about 2.5%. The hike is intended to keep pace with inflation and increasing living costs. To spousal recipients, it means that when your spouse’s benefit increases as a result of COLA, so will yours.
For example, if the average spousal benefit was about $910 a month in late 2024, the COLA would raise it by about $23 a month to about $933 in 2025. That is an important adjustment because it maintains purchasing power through economic ups and downs.
4. Can a divorced spouse claim spousal benefits?
You can receive spousal Social Security benefits through your former spouse’s work record if you are divorced. The catch is that you must have been married for at least 10 years. SSA’s rules also say “some valid non-marital legal relationships” may be able to claim spousal benefits.
Strategies for maximizing benefits
Maximize your Social Security benefits as a spouse with these strategies:
- Delay claiming: If you can hold out, delay claiming benefits until you have reached your full retirement age. This may significantly increase both your own and spousal benefits.
- Compare your own benefits: Compare your benefits to the possible spousal benefit if you worked long enough to be eligible for your own Social Security benefits. You will get the higher of the two.
- Understand deemed filing rules: When you apply for one type of benefit, either your own or your spousal, you are deemed to have applied for both. What this means is that if your own benefit is less than half of your spouse’s, you’ll get a combination that equals the higher amount.
Read more: Will Project 2025 affect Social Security benefits and payments? Here’s what’s known about the measure
Read more: Can I qualify for Social Security disability benefits (SSDI) if I get veterans’ benefits?
