Dear Rusty: My wife and I are currently collecting Social Security. We both started receiving SS at 62 years old. That said, we get by on a tight budget. 

A retired friend told us about an option which allows a spouse to collect half (1/2) of the other spouse’s SS monthly income. My question has two parts: 1. Can we both collect on each other’s SS? And 2. Are there any pitfalls? Signed: Seeking an Increase

Dear Seeking: Well, I’m afraid spousal benefits aren’t quite that simple. One spouse may be eligible for additional benefits from the other, but only if that spouse’s personal Social Security retirement benefit at their full retirement age (FRA) is less than half (50%) of the other spouse’s FRA entitlement. Note that for spouse benefits, FRA amounts are used regardless of when you actually claim benefits. Full retirement age for both you and your wife is 66, so that means that if you both claimed at 62 your FRA entitlements were higher – about 25% more - than you are both currently receiving.  

Since you applied for benefits some time ago at about the same age, one way to estimate if one of you may be entitled to an additional amount as a spouse is to evaluate your current monthly amounts. If either of you are getting a benefit which is less than half of the other’s amount, it’s possible that the one with the lower benefit may be entitled to more as a spouse. And note, only one spouse is eligible for benefits – you cannot both get spouse benefits from each other.  

Another way to explore this is for the spouse with the lowest monthly Social Security benefit to contact Social Security at 1-800-772-1213 to ask if spouse benefits are available. Noting that contacting SS these days can be a time-consuming process, yet another way is for you to provide us (the AMAC Foundation’s SS Advisory Service) with both of your current monthly SS benefit amounts (before any deductions) and the exact ages when each of you claimed. Using that information, we can do the math to see if either of you might be entitled to more as a spouse. But, in the end, only the spouse with the lower benefit may be eligible, and then, only if their FRA entitlement (not their actual current amount) is less than 50% of the other spouse’s FRA entitlement.

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