Husband 66 and Wife 64. If she collects under her record at her FRA can she then switch to a spousal (if it will be greater) when he applies at 70?

Hi,

No. Once you file for retirement benefits on your own record, that becomes your primary benefit for life. However, although the wife you describe couldn't actually switch to spousal benefits after filing for her own benefits, she could potentially file for an excess spousal benefit when her husband applies, which could then be paid in addition to her own benefit rate. The net effect would essentially be the same as switching to spousal benefits in the scenario you describe.

For example, say Mary files for her own retirement benefits at her full retirement age (FRA). Mary's full retirement age rate, which is the same as her primary insurance amount (PIA), is $800. Two years later when Mary's husband is age 70, he files for his retirement benefits and Mary files for spousal benefits. Mary's husband's PIA is $2000, and Mary's spousal benefit rate would be calculated by subtracting her PIA from 50% of her husband's PIA, or $200 in this example (i.e. $2000/2 - $800). Mary's excess spousal rate of $200 would then be added to her own retirement rate of $800 to give her a combined benefit amount of $1000.

By the way, if the wife you describe does file for her own retirement benefits before her husband files for his benefits and if he was born prior to January 2 1954, he could file a restricted claim for spousal benefits only at his full retirement age or later. The husband could then potentially switch to his own higher retirement benefits at age 70.

The couple described in your question would be well advised to consider using our maximization software to explore and compare all of their various filing options in order to determine their best strategy for claiming their benefits.

Best, Jerry