Know your Social Security rules
Answers to some of your biggest questions.
Question: In March, I will turn 66. I plan to continue working until age 70. According to my most recent Social Security Statement, my payment would be about $1,729 per month at full retirement age; at age 70, I will be eligible for about $2,644 each month. I hope to defer collecting until age 70.
I was divorced in 2010 after 30-plus years of marriage. My ex-husband is collecting Social Security benefits and, I believe, is receiving between $1,600 to $1,800 per month. He will not share with me the exact amount, but I assume that information is available.
In a conversation with Social Security last year, I was advised that, at my full retirement age of 66, I am eligible to collect one-half of my ex-spouse’s benefits, continue to work full time and continue to accrue my own benefits until I retire at age 70 and then collect the full amount ($2,644).
The Social Security Administration’s publication, Retirement Planner: If You Are Divorced, states the following: “If you were born before January 2, 1954, and have already reached full retirement age, you can choose to receive only the divorced spouse’s benefit and delay receiving your retirement until a later date.”
In a telephone conversation with a Social Security representative, I was told that this is not true. Apparently, my full retirement benefit is higher than the amount he is collecting. I know that recent rules have changed eligibility requirements, but I suspect that my birthdate before 1954 will allow me to begin to collect this March. Your input and clarification would be so much appreciated. — B.H.
Answer: The person that you spoke to in your recent telephone conversation with Social Security is incorrect, says Jim Blankenship, a financial planner with Blankenship Financial Planning and author of Social Security for the Suddenly Single.
Since you were born before 1954, Blankenship says you are eligible at your full retirement age (or FRA) to file what’s called a restricted application for spousal benefits only. “This provides you with the spousal benefit — one of your ex’s benefit, essentially — and you can continue delaying your own benefit up to age 70,” Blankenship says. “You can also continue to work full time, and this will not reduce your benefits.”
This also assumes, he says, that you continue to be unmarried at this point. “If you have remarried, you are not eligible for the spousal benefit based on your ex-spouse as long as the current marriage lasts,” Blankenship says.
Q: I am 84 and my wife is 83. I retired at 67 and began drawing Social Security. My wife did not work enough hours to qualify for Social Security. I currently receive $2,150 monthly and she receives $959. If I pre-decease her, what would she then receive? — R.W.
A: Whoever survives the first death, whether you or your wife, will get the higher of the two Social Security payments — $2,150 in your case, according to Andy Landis, author of Social Security: The Inside Story.
“Incidentally, if your wife is the survi- vor, there won’t be any SSA paperwork; they’ll automatically convert her to the survivor payment if and when they are notified of your death,” Landis says.
Q: I started collecting Social Security at full retirement age. My wife and I also have a dependent age 14 in the house who will be collecting half my Social Security for four years. Are there any restrictions on that benefit? Can I use that money to fund her 529 college savings plan, for instance? — F.M.
A: According to Darren Lutz, a public affairs specialist for the Social Security Administration, a person should use benefits for current needs such as food, clothing, shelter, utilities, dental and medical care and personal comfort items, or for reasonably foreseeable needs.
“If not needed for these purposes, he or she must conserve or invest the benefits for the beneficiary such as college savings or other savings,” he says. “He or she must use benefits in the best interests of the beneficiary, according to his or her best judgment.”
If you were born before 1954, you are eligible at your full retirement age (or FRA) to file what’s called a restricted application for spousal benefits only.