Hi
Can my adopted grandchild restrict his benefits exclusively to my husbands earnings record who is currently filing so that I may receive child care benefits? I assume he can only file on one benefit at a time and currently his survivor benefit from his mother is higher than 50% of my husbands record. However, the combined benefit up to the family maximum that we would receive would be higher than the survivor benefit alone. Is this possible?

Hi. A child can become entitled to Social Security child's benefits on the record of more than one parent, it's just that they can only be paid on one record at a time. The record on which a child who is simultaneously entitled to benefits on more than one record is paid is determined by a specific provision in the Social Security law (https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0300615772). The result of that is the child is generally paid on the parent's record that yields the highest monthly benefit rate for the child.

A child who's potentially eligible for benefits on more than one record isn't obligated to apply for benefits on more than one record. So, in theory at least, your adopted child could file a restricted application for benefits on your husband's record. However, it sounds like you're saying that the child is already drawing benefits on his biological mother's record, meaning that he has already filed an application for benefits on that parent's account. And, you can't exclude an account from which you're already drawing benefits from the scope of a new application.

The only way that your adopted child could restrict his entitlement to your husband's record only would be if he withdrew the previous application filed on his mother's record. That would require repayment of all of the benefits he's been paid from that account. It's very doubtful that that would be a good strategy. Your adopted child doesn't need to withdraw his prior application to potentially become entitled to benefits on your husband's account. If he applies for benefits on your husband's record and becomes simultaneously entitled, he'll be paid on the record that's determined by the section of Social Security's law I mentioned above.

It sounds like you and your husband have a lot of different options to consider, so you may want to strongly consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to help you sort things out so that you can choose the best filing option to maximize benefits for your family.

Best, Jerry