Social Security 2022: Check eligibility for spouse’s benefits and your retirement benefits

Social Security will increase in 2023
If you have not worked or do not have enough Social Security credits to qualify for your own Social Security benefits, you may be able to receive your spouse’s benefits.
To qualify for spouse’s benefits, you must be one of these:

  • At least 62 years of age.
  • Any age and caring for a child entitled to receive benefits on your spouse’s record and who is younger than age 16 or disabled.

Your full spouse’s benefit could be up to one-half the amount your spouse is entitled to receive at their full retirement age.
If you choose to begin receiving spouse’s benefits before you reach full retirement age, your benefit amount will be permanently reduced.

You will receive your full spouse’s benefit amount if you wait until you reach full retirement age to begin receiving benefits. You will also receive the full amount if you are caring for a child entitled to receive benefits on your spouse’s record who is younger than age 16 or disabled.

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If you do have enough credits to qualify for your own Social Security benefits and you apply for your own retirement benefits and for benefits as a spouse, we always pay your own benefits first. If your benefits as a spouse are higher than your own retirement benefits, you will get a combination of benefits equaling the higher spouse benefit.

Here is an example:

Mary Ann qualifies for a retirement benefit of $250 and a spouse’s benefit of $400. At her full retirement age, she will receive her own $250 retirement benefit, and we will add $150 from her spouse’s benefit, for a total of $400.

Stimulus check 2022 (10)

Keep in mind that you may have options to increase your benefit amounts.

For more information, see Filing Rules for Retirement and Spouses Benefits.

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If you are at least 62 years of age and you wish to apply for retirement or spouse’s benefits, you can use our online retirement application to apply for one or both benefits.

If you are divorced

If you are divorced and your marriage lasted at least 10 years, you may be able to get benefits on your former spouse’s record.

See Benefits For Your Divorced Spouse for more information.

If your spouse or ex-spouse is deceased

See When A Family Member Dies for more information.

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About Reeti Garg 353 Articles
Being outstanding in school and college for her academics and sports, little did she know that her passion for writing about unobserved people, stranded things and mysteries of the heart would lead her to become a professional writer later in life! An avid reader and a hardcore movie buff, her favorite past time is listening to music and writing poems. She is a published author and on her way to completing her second book ‘Under the Falling Stars’, a thriller on bisexuality. In this short span of 4 years of being a professional writer, she has been associated with many articles for renowned magazines and newspapers, blogs, short stories and poetries. Names associated with her writing skills are ‘Meri Sajni’, ‘Akinchan Bharat’, ‘Hamara Ghaziabad’, mycity4kids.com. Aspiring to be famous and known as a soulful author one day, she would love to settle someday in the silent disquietedness of London countryside, where she plans to just sip coffee and keep writing trilogies.

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