My wife applied for Social Security in 2009. Her benefit was severely reduced because of her state pension. I applied for my Social Security benefit in 2010. It was considerably higher. We married after having started our respective Social Security benefits. 14 years later my wife is wondering if she can increase her benefits by applying for spousal benefits on my account. Can she?

Hi. Your wife can apply for spousal benefits, but her claim will only be approved if your primary insurance amount (PIA) is more than twice as much as her PIA. A person's PIA is equal to their Social Security retirement benefit rate if they start drawing their benefits at full retirement age (FRA).

Furthermore, even if your wife's claim for spousal benefits is approved, if she's receiving a pension based on her earnings from a state government agency in the U.S. that were exempt from Social Security taxes then her Social Security spousal benefit will almost certainly be offset by 2/3rds of the amount of her state pension (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10007.pdf). That could reduce the spousal amount to zero depending on the relative amounts of her spousal benefit and her state pension.

I don't have enough information to be able to tell you whether or not your wife could actually be paid any spousal benefits if she applies, but it probably couldn't hurt to file an application in order to find out. She can do so by calling Social Security to make an appointment. Filing for spousal benefits would not adversely affect your wife's own benefits.

Best, Jerry