I am 66 and have not filed for benefits on my record. My wife will be 66 in March and has filed for her benefit. I have filed for a spousal benefit on her record. Her PIA is $441/mo. but having filed 5 months early she will receive $429/mo. My spousal benefit is $220/mo. I plan to delay filing until age 70. My PIA is $2,758/mo. We have a child, disabled before age 22, that will be 37 on Jan 1 of 2019. He receives SSDI (2018 of $900/mo) on his own earnings record and continues to work at below the SSDI monthly maximum. He lives with us. My wife (his mother) is foster provider under our State's Medicaid waiver program. In your book you mention that Child in care (CIC) benefits may apply to number holders of any age. I cannot find exactly how CIC benefits are calculated but believe they may be paid to my spouse based on my earnings without being limited by a Family Maximum.

A couple of questions: 1. Would there be a scenario wherein it may be better to file on my record now rather than waiting until age 70? 2. Would a Medicaid supported foster child be disqualified for Child in care benefits? 3. Would the child be considered a child in care if living outside our home in a private pay setting if we are still responsible for his care)? 4. How would the child's benefits under his own record be treated?

Hi,

In order for a spouse to qualify for child in care spousal benefits, they must have a child in their care who qualifies for benefits on their spouse's (i.e. the worker) Social Security record. Whether or not the child is a Medicaid supported foster child is irrelevant. I'm not clear on your relationship to the child mentioned in your question, so I don't know whether or not the child could qualify for benefits on your Social Security record. But, I'll assume for purposes of my answer that he's your stepchild since you mention that your wife is his mother.

Stepchildren can qualify for benefits on a stepparent's record, but only if the stepparent has been providing more than one-half of the child's support. Calculating one-half support typically comes down to determining whether or not the child in question has sufficient income to provide for at least one-half of their share of their household's living expenses, and how much income each of the household's other residents provide.

If your stepchild couldn't qualify for child's benefits on your Social Security record, then all of your questions about child in care benefits are moot and your current plan to draw spousal benefits until age 70 and then switch to your own record is likely your best option. But, if your stepchild could qualify for child's benefits on your account when you file for your own Social Security retirement benefits, then an argument could be made for filing for your retirement benefits earlier than age 70 in order to enable your wife and child to receive benefits on your account. Your wife and child could potentially receive up to 50% of your full retirement age rate, or primary insurance amount (PIA), but their benefit rates could be lower than that due to the family maximum benefit limit. And, they couldn't receive both their own benefits and a full spousal or child's benefit, just the higher of the two rates.

You should strongly consider using our software to sort all of this out for you so that you can determine the filing strategy that you believe would be best for you and your family. The software can't tell you whether or not a stepchild would qualify for benefits on your record, though, so you may want to discuss that issue with Social Security before using the software. Also, I don't know whether or not your stepchild's Medicaid eligibility could be affected if he qualifies for higher Social Security benefits on your record, so you'll probably want to check with the agency handling those benefits before you make a final decision.

Best, Jerry