There's only one requirement you must meet to be eligible for Social Security spousal benefits: You must have married a worker who is eligible for Social Security retirement benefits. Married spouses are eligible after one year of marriage. Ex-spouses can also qualify if they were married to the worker for at least 10 years and haven't remarried.
But being eligible and actually receiving Social Security spousal benefits are two different things. There's one instance where you may not get the spousal benefit you qualify for, and it's not as bad as you might think.
Spousal benefits aren't always your best option
You might only qualify for spousal benefits if you haven't worked long enough to be eligible for Social Security retirement benefits. To earn retirement benefits, you must rack up at least 40 work credits, where one credit is defined as $1,730 in earnings in 2024 and you can earn a maximum of four credits per year. But many workers today are dually eligible for benefits -- that is, they qualify for retirement benefits on their own, and they've married a qualifying worker.
The Social Security Administration only gives these workers the larger of the two benefits. If that's the spousal benefit, that's what the person receives. If their own retirement benefit is larger, they'll get that instead of their spousal benefit.
Couples with similar earnings histories are more likely to wind up with their own retirement benefits instead of their spousal benefits, because of the way the spousal benefit calculation works. Your maximum spousal benefit is one-half of the retirement benefit your partner qualifies for at their full retirement age (FRA). This is age 66 to 67. You must wait until your own FRA to apply for spousal benefits if you want this amount.
Both retirement and spousal benefits face early claiming reductions if you apply before your FRA, but the reductions for spousal benefits are steeper. Retirement benefits shrink by 5/9 of 1% per month for your first 36 months of early claiming, while spousal benefits shrink by 25/36 of 1% per month. The Social Security Administration reduces both types of benefits by a further 5/12 of 1% per month if you apply more than 36 months early.
Couples with one person who significantly out-earned the other may find that the lower earner's spousal benefit is higher than their retirement benefit. But the lower earner cannot claim the spousal benefit until the higher earner has already applied for Social Security.
What this means for you
Anticipating whether you'll receive a spousal benefit or a retirement benefit can help you get a sense of how much of your retirement income Social Security will provide. Fortunately, you don't have to do a lot of math to guess which of your two benefits could be larger.
The Social Security Administration has a tool that estimates your monthly retirement benefit at every claiming age based on your earnings history to date and projections of your future income. All you have to do is create a my Social Security account to check it out.
You can also use this account to estimate your spousal benefit. But to do this, you'll need to know the monthly benefit your partner qualifies for at their FRA. Once you have this, you can input it into your my Social Security account to view estimated spousal benefits.
Once you have this information and you've decided when you want to claim Social Security, you can estimate how much of your monthly expenses your benefits will cover. This can help you figure out how much you need to save on your own to cover the rest.
This is a good starting point, but you may have to repeat this process over time. Social Security's future is a little uncertain right now. If the government makes changes to the program, that could affect how much you get and how much you need to save on your own for retirement.
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You Might Not Get a Spousal Social Security Benefit Even if You're Eligible -- and That's Not So Bad was originally published by The Motley Fool