Hello, I am 69 , my wife is 64. I have been drawing ss disability benefits since I was 62. My wife has not yet applied for her benefiting. She didn't work outside the home much during our 45 years of marriage. Her own ss benefit is $150 or so per month. The local ss office lady told us that when she applies for ss benefits at age 66, she would get 75% of my benefits. I asked ,what about her own benefits and she said , since I was the higher earner they would have to use my earnings to calculate what she gets I guess the $150 gets tossed out the window. Is this correct ?
Also I asked if my wife would get more if she waited until she was older than 66 and the ss lady said no. The maximum her benefit would be was the 75% of my ss benefit. Is this also correct ?
I don't know how much more time I have in this crazy world, but I still love my wife and want her to get as much a benefit as possible when I touch the glory.

Thank you, Ricky

Hi Ricky,

Your wife could only receive the higher of a) her own Social Security or b) 50% of your full retirement age rate (PIA). Since she was apparently born prior to January 2 1954, she would have the option of filing just for spousal benefits only at full retirement age and allowing her own rate to grow until age 70. That won't give her a higher overall benefit rate, though, unless her own full retirement age rate is within 32% of half of your PIA. Her maximum spousal rate would not be any higher if she waits past age 66 to start drawing, so she definitely wouldn't want to do that.

In the event of your death, your wife would be eligible for the higher of her own benefit rate or 100% of your rate. You and your wife may want to consider using the maximization software available on this website in order to explore her filing options and determine her best strategy.

Best, Jerry