Dear Rusty: I was referred to you to ask a question about Social Security benefits. I receive about $1,700 a month from Social Security while my husband receives only approximately $750 monthly. Is he entitled to file for half of my Social Security as a monthly benefit without touching my amount? Signed: Curious Wife 

Dear Curious Wife: For information, spousal benefits are one of the most misunderstood areas of Social Security. A spouse does not always get half of their partner’s Social Security benefit – how much the spouse gets is determined by their age when the spouse benefit is claimed, and it is always based upon both partner’s full retirement age (FRA) benefit, regardless of when they actually claimed Social Security. The partner with the lower SS benefit can only get half of the other spouse’s FRA amount if that partner takes the spouse benefit at (or after) their personal SS full retirement age (FRA). And each spouse’s FRA may be different depending on the year they were born (FRA today is somewhere between age 66 and 67, depending on the person’s year of birth). 

Here are two basic rules for a lower earning marital partner to get spouse benefits: 

• The lower earning spouse’s FRA entitlement must be less than 50% of the higher earning spouse’s FRA entitlement. FRA amounts are used, even if SS benefits were claimed earlier than, or later than, full retirement age, and FRA amounts are frequently different than the monthly amounts actually being received.  

• If one spouse’s FRA amount is less than 50% of the other spouse’s FRA amount, the difference between those two amounts can be added to the lower earning spouse’s SS retirement amount, to become their spousal benefit. That may, or may not, equal half of the higher earning spouse’s FRA amount. 

So, if you claimed your Social Security exactly at your own full retirement age, and your husband also claimed his Social Security exactly at his own full retirement age, then – based on the numbers you provided – your husband is likely entitled to about $850 per month, instead of his current $750. And that would not affect your own SS benefit in any way. 

Your FRA entitlement would need to be more than twice your husband’s FRA entitlement for him to receive a spousal boost from you. But if either of you claimed Social Security before (or after) your respective full retirement ages, your husband would not get 50% of your benefit.

Russell Gloor is an Association of Mature American Citizens certified social security advisor.  To submit a question, visit amacfoundation.org/programs/social-security-advisoryor email ssadvisor@amacfoundation.org.