What Is the Social Security Spousal Benefit and Who Qualifies

The Social Security spousal benefit is a monthly payment that lets the husband or wife of a retired or disabled worker collect up to 50 percent of that worker’s full retirement benefit. For 2026, the highest possible payment is $2,076 per month, which is half of the $4,152 maximum retirement benefit payable at full retirement age.¹ The benefit exists so that a spouse who earned less over their career, or who spent years outside the paid workforce, still has income in retirement.

Who Qualifies

Three things generally have to be true. You must be at least 62 years old, your marriage must have lasted at least one year, and the worker whose record you’re claiming on must already be receiving retirement or disability benefits.² The one-year marriage requirement is waived if you are the biological parent of the worker’s child.³

The age-62 rule has one meaningful exception. You can collect at any age if you are caring for the worker’s child who is either under 16 or has a disability.⁴ When the youngest child turns 16 and has no qualifying disability, that payment stops until you reach 62.

Full retirement age for spousal benefit purposes is 67 if you were born in 1960 or later. For anyone born between 1943 and 1959, it falls between 66 and 66 and 10 months.⁵

If You Are Divorced

You can claim on an ex-spouse’s record if your marriage lasted at least 10 years, you are currently unmarried, and you are at least 62. A divorced spouse does not have to wait for the ex to file. As long as the ex is 62 or older and the divorce has been final for at least two years, you can file on your own.⁶

Remarrying ends your eligibility on an ex-spouse’s record. If that later marriage ends by divorce, annulment, or death, you can become eligible again. The remarriage-after-60 exception you may have read about is a survivor rule, not a spousal rule.

How Much You’ll Get

Your benefit starts at 50 percent of the worker’s primary insurance amount, which is what the worker gets at full retirement age.⁷ If your spouse’s primary insurance amount is $2,400, your maximum is $1,200. That 50 percent ceiling is fixed. It does not grow if the worker delays their own claim past full retirement age.

Filing Early Costs You Permanently

You can start at 62, but filing before your full retirement age shrinks the monthly payment for good. The reduction is 25/36 of one percent for each of the first 36 months you claim early, plus 5/12 of one percent for each additional month. If your full retirement age is 67 and you file at 62, that’s 60 months early, and the benefit drops from 50 percent to roughly 32.5 percent of the worker’s primary insurance amount.⁷

Waiting Past Full Retirement Age Gains Nothing

Workers who delay their own retirement claim earn an 8 percent annual boost up to age 70.⁸ Spousal benefits do not. You top out at 50 percent once you reach your own full retirement age.⁷ Holding off until 70 just means missed checks.

Yearly Cost-of-Living Adjustments

Once you’re collecting, your payment is adjusted each year for inflation. The 2026 adjustment is 2.8 percent, applied automatically starting in January.⁹

If You Have Your Own Work Record

You do not stack a spousal benefit on top of your own retirement benefit. The Social Security Administration pays whichever is larger. When your own benefit is smaller, the agency pays it first and adds a supplement to bring you up to the spousal amount.¹⁰

Anyone who turned 62 on or after January 2, 2016 is subject to “deemed filing.” When you file for either your own retirement or a spousal benefit, the agency treats it as filing for both at once. You cannot take the spousal payment now and let your own retirement grow to 70. The old “restricted application” strategy that allowed this is closed to anyone born on or after January 2, 1954.¹¹

One more thing to know: if the worker voluntarily suspends their own retirement benefits, any spousal benefit paid on that record is suspended too. Divorced spouses are the exception and keep receiving payments.¹¹

Working While You Collect

If you claim before full retirement age and keep working, the earnings test may temporarily hold back part of your check. In 2026, the first $24,480 of earnings is free of any reduction. After that, the agency withholds $1 in benefits for every $2 you earn.¹²

In the calendar year you actually reach full retirement age, a higher limit kicks in: $65,160, counting only what you earn in months before your birthday month. Above that, the withholding is $1 for every $3.¹² Once you hit full retirement age, the earnings test disappears and the agency recalculates your benefit to credit back the months it withheld.

How to Apply

You can file online at ssa.gov (once you’re within three months of age 62), by calling 1-800-772-1213, or in person at a local field office.¹³ Have the following ready:

Social Security numbers for you and the worker.
Your birth certificate or other proof of birth, plus information about whether a public or religious birth record existed before you turned five.
Your marriage certificate (original or certified copy). Certified copies typically cost about $20 to $30 depending on the jurisdiction.
Your divorce decree (certified copy) if you’re filing as a divorced spouse.
Bank routing and account numbers for direct deposit.
Prior-year W-2s or self-employment tax returns to show your current earnings.

Photocopies of W-2s and tax returns are fine. Birth and marriage certificates generally need to be originals, which the agency returns after review.¹³

If the agency denies your claim, you have 60 days from the date you receive the denial notice to request reconsideration in writing.¹⁴

Taxes

Spousal benefits are taxed like any other Social Security income. What matters is your “combined income,” which is your adjusted gross income plus nontaxable interest plus half of your Social Security benefits. Below $25,000 (single) or $32,000 (married filing jointly), none of your benefits are taxable. Between $25,000 and $34,000 single, or $32,000 and $44,000 joint, up to 50 percent may be taxable. Above those upper figures, up to 85 percent may be taxable. These thresholds are set by federal statute and are not indexed for inflation.¹⁵ If you’re married filing separately and you lived with your spouse at any point during the year, the base amount is zero and benefits are taxable from the first dollar of combined income.¹⁶

Spousal Benefits Are Not Survivor Benefits

These two programs are commonly mixed up, and the rules differ in ways that matter. Spousal benefits are paid while the worker is alive and cap at 50 percent of the worker’s primary insurance amount. Survivor benefits become available after the worker dies and can reach 100 percent of what the worker was receiving or was entitled to receive. A surviving spouse can begin reduced survivor benefits as early as 60, or 50 with a qualifying disability. Remarriage rules are also different: remarrying after 60 does not disqualify a survivor, whereas remarriage at any age ends divorced spousal benefits while the ex is still alive.¹⁷

The Government Pension Offset Is Gone

If you worked in a federal, state, or local government job not covered by Social Security and receive a pension from it, this used to shrink or wipe out your spousal benefit. The Social Security Fairness Act, signed January 5, 2025, repealed the Government Pension Offset. The change applies to benefits payable for January 2024 and later, and the Social Security Administration began adjusting affected payments in February 2025.¹⁸ If a government pension previously reduced or eliminated your spousal check, your current payment should reflect the full amount you’re entitled to.

1
Social Security Administration. What Is the Maximum Social Security Retirement Benefit Payable
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 402 – Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Benefit Payments
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 416 – Additional Definitions
4
Social Security Administration. Who Can Get Family Benefits
5
Social Security Administration. Retirement Benefits
6
Social Security Administration. Code of Federal Regulations 404.331 – Who Is Entitled to Wife’s or Husband’s Benefits as a Divorced Spouse
7
Social Security Administration. Benefits for Spouses
8
Social Security Administration. Early or Late Retirement
9
Federal Register. Cost-of-Living Increase and Other Determinations for 2026
10
Social Security Administration. Code of Federal Regulations 404.403 – Reduction Where Total Monthly Benefits Exceed Maximum Family Benefits Payable
11
Social Security Administration. Filing Rules for Retirement and Spouses Benefits
12
Social Security Administration. Receiving Benefits While Working
13
Social Security Administration. Form SSA-2 – Information You Need to Apply for Spouse’s or Divorced Spouse’s Benefits
14
Social Security Administration. Understanding Supplemental Security Income Appeals Process
15
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 86 – Social Security and Tier 1 Railroad Retirement Benefits
16
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 915 – Social Security and Equivalent Railroad Retirement Benefits
17
Social Security Administration. Survivors Benefits
18
Social Security Administration. Social Security Fairness Act – Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset