Social Security and Marriage
There are no negative impacts on Social Security benefits for married couples filing for retirement. Retirees in marriage are eligible to receive the highest benefits available to them through either individual earning reports or through spousal benefits. In fact, there was a loophole recently closed down that took advantage of this system. Called file-and-suspend, an individual could file for Social Security benefits and allow their spouse to file for spousal benefits, then the individual would suspend their payments and allow them to grow before restarting their collection at an older age. Throughout this time the spouse would still get spousal benefits paid to them based on the earnings of their partner. Though this strategy is no longer available, there are no negative impacts, penalties, or limits on an individual’s Social Security based off of their spouse’s earnings. For more information on this topic, visit this article by Howard Kossover with DL-Online.com.
This posting is presented for informational purposes only and does not represent legal or financial guidance. Any opinions or interpretations presented are either those of the original author or, in the case of articles authored by the AMAC Foundation, are the opinions of AMAC Foundation staff, originally trained and accredited by the National Social Security Association (NSSA) and certified via the AMAC Foundation. Any links included in the article are valid on the posted date; socialsecurityreport.org cannot guarantee the duration of the links’ validity. NSSA and the AMAC Foundation and its staff are not affiliated with or endorsed by the Social Security Administration or any other governmental entity. To submit a question, visit our website (https://amacfoundation.org/services/) or email us at ssadvisor@amacfoundation.org. Because we are a non-profit organization, there is no charge for these services.