Wife SS increase to 50% when I collect my SS if born after 1954?
My wife was born 06/16/56. She started collecting SS at age 62. June of last year. She has been collecting less than a year.
Is she eligible to increase her SS to the ½ percentage that matches my retirement age if larger than what she is collecting? Which it will be. I plan on retiring at age 65, at this time. Next year.
I read an article that there was a spouse benefit change that if she was born after 01/02/1954, and starts collecting her SS before I retire she is committed to the first amount, and not eligible for the spouse benefit increase. Is this correct?
I read that there is a “Start, Stop, Start” option if it is done within the first year of collecting, and you pay back what you received. Is this true?
Her SS is not that much, so we decided it was worth it to just start collecting at 62, and increase it when I retired. I was not aware of these changes until recently.
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Go in person to your local social security office. You will get correct answers there and not guesses from people that aren’t sure.
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I can only second that. In my experience, the employees of the SS offices are very helpful in letting you know the rules and figuring out what benefits you can take. I know there were changes recently but I don’t know all the specifics.
Or you can call them on the phone. I had to deal with them once, when there was a death in the family, and they were very patient and helpful.
FYI: My wife and I received wrong information at Tacoma Social Security Office. A woman there didn’t know what she was doing and screwed up the paperwork. First she said that my wife could file and suspend until we both hit 70 (we’re the same age). It was my understanding at that time that that situation had expired a few months earlier but she said that we could still do it. Over a year later she tells us to come back and redo the paperwork. We specifically told her that we want to start collecting at age 70. A few month later we each received huge checks for back SS payments. We tried to appeal but were denied because it was over a year since the screwups. More trips to the SS office were of no avail. Finally we had to see a judge about this who had the power to straighten it out.
The big checks from SS pushed us up into a higher tax bracket. We returned all the money back to SS as directed and got receipts. Also we filed an amended Federal Tax form and should get a refund of around $10K back.
What a royal pain in the….......!
Good luck and good health!
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