Hi Larry-- I am currently receiving SSDI. My husband, who will be 64 in August, will be forced into early retirement this summer. Can he receive benefits on my SSDI without triggering deeming for his own retirement? Should he wait till FRA to do so? He would like to postpone taking his own SS Retirement until 70 to maximize his benefits. At full retirement age (I am 61 now) , can I suspend and let my retirement benefit grow until 70 as well?

Hi,

The only way your husband could file for spousal benefits without being deemed to also be filing for his own Social Security retirement benefits is if he has a child in care who qualifies for benefits on your record and the child is either under age 16 or disabled. That would be true even if he waits until his full retirement age (FRA) to file, since he was born after January 1 1954 (https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/deemedfaq.html).

Your husband can postpone filing for his own benefits until age 70 in order to earn a higher benefit rate, but he can't draw spousal benefits in the meantime except as noted above. And, you could suspend your benefits when your Social Security disability (SSDI) benefits convert to regular Social Security retirement benefits when you reach FRA, but you couldn't receive any other type of Social Security benefits while your benefits are suspended (https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/suspendfaq.html).

You and your husband may want to strongly consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to explore your various options and determine your best overall strategy with regard to your benefits.

Best, Jerry