Hi Larry, I’m currently 63. Ever since I filed for spousal child-in-care benefits I’m no longer able to get future estimated benefits for myself from the SSA website. Whenever I check my online account for my future amount, it states instead that I’m already receiving benefits. My understanding was that unlike with regular spousal benefits, a child-in-care benefit does not prevent my own benefits from continuing to increase until age 70. Am I wrong?

Hi. No. We've been assured by officials at Social Security that people receiving child in care spousal benefits can continue to collect those benefits while waiting until age 70 to claim their own benefits. Social Security's operations manual isn't clear on that subject, which is why we checked with the Social Security officials. So, if you choose to wait until age 70 to claim your own benefits, you'll accrue delayed retirement credits (DRC) starting at your full retirement age (FRA) even if you continue to collect child in care spousal benefits.

The fact that you can no longer get benefit estimates on Social Security's website is simply due to their website's limitations. Social Security stops providing online estimates to people who are receiving benefits, regardless of what type of benefits they're collecting.

Best, Jerry