My husband became disabled at 48 and had been on SSDI. I became disabled at 55 and collected STRS, then at 59 got my own SSDI of only $335. At 67 can I apply for spousal SS benefits? I reduced my benefits with STRS to give him some income if I died, which it seemed likely at the time.

Hi,

I don't have enough details about your status to know if you'd actually be able to draw any spousal benefits. It sounds like you'd meet the eligibility requirements for spousal benefits if you're age 62 or older, but only if 50% of your husband's primary insurance amount (PIA) is more than your PIA. A person's PIA is equal to the amount they'd receive if they qualify for Social Security disability benefits, or if they start drawing their Social Security retirement benefits at their full retirement age (FRA).

However, even if you do technically qualify for spousal benefits your spousal rate would probably be subject to at least a partial offset due to your STRS pension, assuming that you didn't pay Social Security taxes on your earnings while you were working to qualify for the STRS pension. In that case the Government Pension Offset (GPO) provision would mandate the offset of any spousal benefits for which you'd otherwise qualify by 2/3rds of the amount of your government pension.

For example, say Dana is FRA and she's drawing her own Social Security benefits based on her PIA of $350. Dana's husband is drawing an SSDI benefit equal to his PIA of $2000. Dana would then qualify for a spousal benefit of $650 (i.e. $2000/2 - $350), but if Dana receives a government pension based on her earnings that were exempt from Social Security taxes then her spousal benefits would be offset by 2/3rds of the amount of her government pension unless she meets an exception to GPO (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10007.pdf). Therefore, if Dana receives a government pension of at least $975 her $650 spousal benefit would likely be offset to zero. Furthermore, if Dana had claimed spousal benefits prior to FRA her spousal rate would have been reduced for age, meaning that her spousal benefits could be reduced to zero even if her government pension amount was lower that $975.

Our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) could help you determine if you'd be eligible for spousal benefits, and if so, when would be the optimal time to apply for those benefits.

Best, Jerry