Hi Larry, my wife BD 4-21-55. My BD 1-23-52. My wife does not qualify for SS retirement benefit under her own work record. Except for me not starting my SS retirement benefit, I believe she otherwise would be eligible for spousal retirement benefit if she applied right now under my work record. She has Medicare benefit under my work record since she was 65.
If I wait until Jan. 2022 to begin my SS retirement benefit at 70, my wife won't be eligible for SS spousal retirement benefit until then. She would also be 7 months pass her FRA month of June 2021. Can she start her benefits on July 2021 (6 months before eligible) even though she is not eligible until Jan. 2022 (because I waited until then to start my benefit at 70)? If not allowed, she will miss 7 months of spousal retirement benefits instead of missing 1month (if allowed to start benefits in July 2021). If not allowed to start her benefits earlier than the eligibility month, would the earliest benefit month allowed be Jan, 2022 the same month she becomes eligible?
Whether she miss 7 months of benefits if she can't do it this way or 1 month of benefits if she can (start benefits July 2021), can retroactive spousal retirement benefit be used to recover any missed benefits from the beginning of her FRA month of June 2021 under this situation (of becoming eligible in Jan. 2022 waiting for me to apply at 70)?
If I apply in Oct. 2021 for my benefits to start in Jan. 2022, should my wife apply for her benefits at the same time (apply in Oct. 2021 to begin benefits on July 2021if allowed), or in Jan. 2022 (to start her benefits in July 2021 if allowed)?
Thank you for your time and any advice, knowledge or help you can give.

Hi. No, your wife can't be paid spousal benefits for any months prior to the first month that you choose to start drawing your benefits. If you wait until January 2022 to start your benefits, then that's the first month that your wife could be paid spousal benefits. If you wanted your wife to be able to collect spousal benefits any sooner than that, you'd have to start drawing your benefits sooner as well.

Basically, you need to weigh whether it's better for you to give up some of the delayed retirement credits (DRC) that you could have earned by waiting until age 70 to start drawing benefits in order to allow your wife to start drawing spousal benefits sooner. Complicating that decision is the fact that your wife's widow's rate in the event that you die before her would be equal to your full benefit rate, so if you start drawing your benefits prior to age 70 it will not only lower your monthly benefit rate but it will also mean a lower potential widow's rate for your wife.

Whenever you decide to start drawing your benefits, both you and your wife could file your applications up to 4 months prior to the month that you want to start your benefits. So, for example, if you wanted to start your benefits effective with January 2022 both you and your wife could file your applications as early as September 1 2021. You and your wife may want to strongly consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to fully analyze the options available to you in order to determine your best strategy for maximizing your benefits.

Best, Jerry