Dear Larry, thank you so much for taking the time to share your expertise and advise.
I have been married for 15 years - my husband is of full retirement age (BIRTH DATE 7/9/54) and has started to draw his social security benefits a few months ago. My birth date is 9/17/1955 and I want to work until I am 70 years of age to increase my benefit.
I had planned on drawing "Restricted application" on my Husband, when I reach my full retirement age in 12/2021, while still continuing to work until the age of 70. The Social Security Office told me today that this is not possible, since I was born after 1/1/54. I am reading very confusing information about this online.

I am also reading about "deemed filing" which suggests, that if my husband is actively receiving benefits I would be able to do the restricted application.
The Social Security Office employee was extremely insecure about their answer and I am not sure that I did receive correct information from them.

Thanks, Renate

Hi Renate,

What you were told by Social Security is correct. No one born after January 1 1954 is allowed to file a restricted application for spousal benefits only, so there is no way that you could draw spousal benefits while waiting until later to claim your own benefits. Only people born prior to January 2 1954 can file for spousal benefits without also being required to apply for their own Social Security retirement benefits at the same time, and even they can only do so if they apply for the spousal benefits at full retirement age (FRA) or later.

Deemed filing is precisely the reason that you CANNOT file a restricted application for spousal benefits only. Deemed filing means that when you apply for either spousal benefits or your own Social Security retirement benefits, your application is deemed, or considered, to be an application for both benefits. So, whenever you apply for benefits you'll be filing for both your own benefits AND for spousal benefits, and you can only be paid essentially the higher of the two benefit rates.

You may want to 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