Under the new 2017 laws I will be turning 66 full retirement age in June I'm planning on filing three months ahead of time here in March I married to the younger wife and we also have two children 11 and 16 can she and the children draw benefits off of my Social Security while I'm still living. Thanks John

Hi,

It certainly sounds like they could. Child's benefits can be paid until a child reaches age 18, or even longer if they are in high school or disabled. And, a spouse with a child under age 16 or a disabled child in care may also qualify for benefits. For more information about benefits for family members, refer to Social Security's website: https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/applying7.html.

By the way, you may want to strongly consider running the maximization software available on this website in order to determine the best time to start drawing benefits.

Best, Jerry