Social Security spousal benefits pay up to 50 percent of a worker’s full retirement benefit to that worker’s current or former spouse. Whether you actually receive that maximum depends on three things: whether the worker has filed, how old you are when you claim, and whether you have your own Social Security work record.
Who Qualifies
The worker you’re claiming on must already be receiving Social Security retirement or disability payments. The rest of the rules depend on your relationship to that worker now.
If you’re currently married, you qualify at age 62 as long as the marriage has lasted at least one continuous year.1Social Security Administration. Who Can Get Family Benefits There is one exception to the age rule. If you’re caring for the worker’s child who is under 16 or has a disability, you can collect at any age, and the benefit isn’t reduced for filing early.2Social Security Administration. Benefits for Spouses
Divorced spouses face tighter rules. The marriage must have lasted at least ten years before the divorce was final, you must be currently unmarried, and you must be at least 62.3Social Security Administration. 20 CFR 404.331 – Who Is Entitled to Wifes or Husbands Benefits as a Divorced Spouse There’s a helpful wrinkle here. If your ex hasn’t filed yet, you can still claim on their record so long as they’re at least 62 and your divorce has been final for at least two years. Your ex doesn’t get to block your benefit by putting off their own retirement.
How Much You Can Get
The maximum spousal benefit is half of the worker’s primary insurance amount, meaning the full monthly benefit the worker would receive at their full retirement age. Getting to that maximum is another matter, because your own work history is factored in first.
If you qualify for any retirement benefit on your own record, Social Security applies a rule it calls “deemed filing.” You can’t collect only the spousal benefit and let your own grow. The agency makes you file for both at once and then pays the higher of the two amounts.4Social Security Administration. Filing Rules for Retirement and Spouses Benefits If your own retirement benefit is $800 and the spousal amount would be $1,100, you receive your $800 plus a $300 spousal top-up. If your own benefit is already $1,100 or more, the spousal benefit adds nothing.
Deemed filing applies to everyone who turned 62 on or after January 2, 2016. Before that date, some people could file a “restricted application” to take only spousal benefits while their own kept growing. That option is gone for anyone reaching 62 today.5Social Security Administration. GN 00204.035 Deemed Filing
How Filing Age Changes the Check
Full retirement age for spousal benefits ranges from 66 to 67 depending on your birth year. If you were born in 1960 or later, it’s 67.6Social Security Administration. Benefits Planner – Retirement – Born in 1960 or Later Filing before full retirement age permanently reduces your check. Someone with a full retirement age of 67 who files at 62 sees the spousal benefit drop from 50 percent of the worker’s amount to roughly 32.5 percent.2Social Security Administration. Benefits for Spouses That reduction is permanent. There is no catch-up later.
Waiting past full retirement age doesn’t help either. Unlike your own retirement benefit, spousal benefits do not earn delayed retirement credits.7Social Security Administration. 20 CFR 404.313 – What Are Delayed Retirement Credits and How Do They Increase My Old-Age Benefit Amount The benefit caps at 50 percent once you reach full retirement age, and every month you delay after that is a month of payments given up for nothing. The math is simple: file at full retirement age, not later.
Working While You Collect
If you claim before full retirement age and continue earning, the Social Security earnings test can temporarily cut your payments. In 2026, the agency withholds $1 in benefits for every $2 you earn above $24,480. In the calendar year you reach full retirement age, the threshold jumps to $65,160 and the withholding rate drops to $1 for every $3 above that limit.8Social Security Administration. Receiving Benefits While Working
Once you pass full retirement age, the earnings test disappears and your income no longer affects your benefit. Social Security also recalculates your payment at that point to credit back the months it withheld, so the money isn’t truly lost. The temporary hit still catches people off guard, especially those who take part-time work assuming the spousal check will arrive in full.
How Remarriage Affects Your Benefit
The rule depends on whether your former spouse is alive or deceased.
For a divorced spouse benefit on a living ex’s record, remarriage ends your eligibility. Your benefit stops, and you should report the marriage to Social Security to avoid an overpayment.9Social Security Administration. Will Remarrying Affect My Social Security Benefits If that later marriage ends, you can potentially re-qualify on your first ex-spouse’s record.
Survivor benefits are more forgiving. If your former spouse has died and you remarry after age 60, you keep your survivor eligibility. For someone disabled, the threshold drops to 50.10Social Security Administration. 406 – Effect of Remarriage – Widowers Benefits Remarriage before those ages generally ends eligibility, though if that later marriage ends you can regain access.
The Family Maximum
There is a ceiling on total benefits paid on any one worker’s record. When a worker, a spouse, and children all draw on the same record, their combined payments can’t exceed the family maximum, which for retirement generally falls between 150 and 188 percent of the worker’s full benefit.11Social Security Administration. Formula for Family Maximum Benefit When the total would exceed the cap, each dependent’s share is proportionally reduced. The worker’s own benefit stays intact.
A divorced spouse’s benefit doesn’t count against this maximum, so an ex collecting on the record won’t reduce payments to the worker’s current family.
If Your Spouse Has Died
Survivor benefits are a separate program with different numbers. While a spousal benefit maxes at 50 percent, a survivor benefit can reach 100 percent of what the deceased worker was receiving.
A surviving spouse can start as early as 60, or 50 with a qualifying disability.12Social Security Administration. Survivors Benefits Filing early cuts the payment: at 60, you get about 71.5 percent of what the deceased received; roughly 75 percent at 61; over 80 percent at 63; and 100 percent at your survivor full retirement age.13Social Security Administration. What You Could Get From Survivor Benefits A divorced surviving spouse qualifies under the same ten-year marriage rule.
One planning point worth knowing: you can take a survivor benefit first and switch to your own retirement benefit at 70 when delayed credits have maxed it out, or the reverse. Social Security lets you pick between the two but won’t combine them.13Social Security Administration. What You Could Get From Survivor Benefits
Government Pensions No Longer Reduce Your Benefit
For decades, a rule called the Government Pension Offset cut spousal and survivor benefits for people who earned a pension from government work not covered by Social Security. The offset reduced your Social Security benefit by two-thirds of the government pension, often to zero.
The Social Security Fairness Act, signed on January 5, 2025, repealed the Government Pension Offset along with the Windfall Elimination Provision. The changes apply to benefits payable after December 2023.14Congress.gov. H.R.82 – Social Security Fairness Act If you were previously denied a spousal or survivor benefit because of a government pension, or had it reduced, contact Social Security to have your case reviewed.
How to Apply
Before filing, gather what Social Security will ask for: Social Security numbers for you and the worker, a birth certificate or other proof of birth, proof of citizenship if you weren’t born in the United States, your marriage certificate, and a final divorce decree if you’re applying as a divorced spouse. You’ll also need your most recent W-2 or self-employment tax return.15Social Security Administration. Information You Need to Apply for Spouses or Divorced Spouses Benefits Documents must be originals or certified copies.
You can apply online at SSA.gov if you’re within three months of turning 62 or older. Otherwise, call 1-800-772-1213 or visit a local field office. Scheduling an appointment by phone first tends to cut your wait compared with walking in.15Social Security Administration. Information You Need to Apply for Spouses or Divorced Spouses Benefits Keep copies of everything you submit.