Direct answer: Social Security spousal benefits can pay a current spouse, or a qualifying divorced spouse, up to half of the worker’s benefit at the worker’s full retirement age. The extra amount does not reduce the worker’s own check. You usually need to be at least 62, and a divorced spouse also needs a marriage that lasted 10 years.
Many people think Social Security only pays the person who earned the credits. That is not how the family rules work. If your own benefit is small, or you have few credits, a spouse’s record can raise what you collect each month.
The rules for a current spouse and a divorced spouse are close, but they are not identical. The difference that matters most is whether the worker has to be collecting already.
Who can get a spouse’s benefit?
Social Security’s family benefits page says spouses, ex-spouses, children, and some grandchildren may qualify for family benefits on a worker’s record.
A July 11, 2024 SSA explainer lists the basic spouse tests. To get a spouse’s benefit you must be one of the following:
- Age 62 or older.
- Any age if you have in your care a child who is younger than 16, or a child who has a disability and is entitled to benefits on your spouse’s record.
Your spouse generally must already be receiving retirement or disability benefits for you to collect on their record. If they have not started yet, you wait.
The most you can get as a spouse is one-half of the amount your spouse qualifies to receive at their full retirement age. If you start before your own full retirement age, that spouse benefit is permanently reduced.
Delayed retirement credits that raise your spouse’s own check after full retirement age do not raise your spouse benefit. Your maximum remains 50% of their full retirement age amount. A surviving spouse’s benefit is different. It can be based on the higher amount.
Payments to family members do not lower the worker’s retirement or disability benefit.
If you are sorting survivor rules after a death, see Social Security survivors benefits. For claiming ages in a broader retirement plan, see retirement planning after 50.
How do your own benefit and a spouse benefit work together?
If you can get both your own retirement benefit and a spouse’s benefit, SSA says you must apply for both. You receive a combined payment equal to the higher spouse amount. SSA calls this deemed filing: applying for one is treated as applying for the other.
SSA pays your own benefit first. If the spouse benefit is higher, SSA adds the difference so the total equals the higher spouse amount.
SSA’s own example uses these figures. Sandy can get $1,000 a month on her record and $1,250 as a spouse. If she waits until full retirement age, she receives her own $1,000 plus $250 from the spouse benefit, for $1,250 total. She gets the extra $250 only because her own benefit is less than half of her spouse’s full retirement age benefit.
Here is another worked example using the same method. Suppose a husband’s full retirement age benefit is $2,400. Half of that is $1,200. His wife earned a $900 benefit on her own record. At her full retirement age she would receive $900 plus $300, for $1,200. If her own benefit had been $1,400, she would keep $1,400 and would not get an extra spouse amount, because $1,400 is already higher than $1,200.
Starting early cuts the spouse portion. Waiting until full retirement age is how you receive the full 50% figure. Full retirement age depends on your year of birth. For people born in 1960 or later, it is 67.
What are the rules for divorced spouses?
SSA published a fresh divorced-spouse explainer on October 27, 2026. If you are 62 or older, unmarried, and divorced from someone entitled to Social Security retirement or disability benefits, you may collect on their record if you also meet these points:
- You were married at least 10 years.
- If you remarried, you cannot collect on the former spouse’s record unless that later marriage ended.
- If you can also collect on your own record, SSA pays the higher of the two benefits, not both stacked as two full checks.
- If you have been divorced at least two years, you can apply on the former spouse’s record even if they have not filed yet.
That last point is the big difference from a current marriage. A current spouse usually has to wait until the worker starts benefits. A divorced spouse who has been divorced for two years can start once the worker is at least 62 and insured, even if the worker is still waiting.
SSA’s handbook adds that an independently entitled divorced spouse must have been divorced for not less than two continuous years when the worker is not yet collecting.
There is a limited exception for people born before January 2, 1954. At full retirement age, that group can choose to take only divorced-spouse benefits and delay their own retirement benefit. Most people turning 62 in 2026 were born in 1964, so that choice is closed for them.
Your divorced-spouse benefit does not reduce what SSA pays your ex-spouse, their current spouse, or other family members.
If your former spouse dies, the rules shift to survivor benefits. SSA says you may qualify as a widow or widower if you are at least 60 (or at least 50 and have a disability), you were married at least 10 years, you are not currently married, and you are not due a higher benefit on your own record. You may also qualify at any age if you are caring for the ex-spouse’s child who is under 16, or who is older, has a disability, and is entitled to benefits.
What fine print should you check before you apply?
Deemed filing can close a strategy you read about years ago. Unless you qualify for the older birth-date exception, you generally cannot take only a spouse benefit at 62 and let your own benefit grow until 70.
Remarriage stops a divorced-spouse retirement benefit. If that later marriage ends, you may be able to collect on the earlier record again. Ask SSA before you assume the door is shut forever.
A short first marriage does not qualify. The 10-year clock runs to the date the divorce became final. SSA can count two marriages to the same person as one in a narrow case: if you remarried no later than the calendar year after the year the divorce became final.
Your spouse’s delay past full retirement age helps a widow more than a living spouse. The living spouse’s maximum stays at 50% of the full retirement age amount.
Estimates beat guesses. If you and your spouse each have a my Social Security account, you can view estimates based on the other person’s record.
People who delayed retirement planning can pair this article with late-start retirement planning after 55.
Five moves before you pick a start date
- Create or open your my Social Security account and look at your own estimated benefit at 62, at full retirement age, and at 70.
- Ask SSA to estimate the spouse or divorced-spouse amount if the online tool does not show it clearly.
- Write down marriage and divorce dates. The 10-year and two-year tests are calendar facts, not rough memories.
- If you are still married and your spouse has not filed, ask whether you must wait. If you are divorced, ask whether the two-year independent rule applies.
- Apply online if you are at least 61 years and 9 months old, which is when SSA says you can start the retirement or spouse application on its website. Or call 1-800-772-1213 to make an appointment.
What not to do
Do not assume an ex must give permission. They do not. Do not call your ex to “warn” them that your benefit will cut theirs. It will not. And do not rely on a forum post about restricted applications if you were born after January 1, 1954.
I built this site after watching my grandmother stretch SNAP and Medicare until she passed at 87. Spousal benefits are easy to mix up with your own record. It is normal to feel worried about claiming too early, so I kept the rules in plain numbers.
Frequently asked questions
How much can a spouse get?
Up to 50% of the worker’s benefit at the worker’s full retirement age, if you wait until your own full retirement age. Starting at 62 reduces that amount for life. You cannot collect a full spouse benefit plus a full benefit on your own record. SSA pays your own amount first and adds only the extra needed to reach the higher spouse figure.
Does my spouse have to approve my application?
No. You apply with SSA. A current spouse usually must already be receiving benefits. A divorced spouse who has been divorced at least two years can apply even if the worker has not filed, as long as the worker is 62 and insured.
I was married 9 years. Do I qualify as a divorced spouse?
SSA’s divorced-spouse rule requires a marriage of at least 10 years before the divorce became final. A nine-year marriage does not meet that test. Survivor rules after a death also use the 10-year marriage test for a divorced widow or widower.
Will my benefit reduce what my ex or their new spouse receives?
No. SSA says the amount you receive will not reduce the benefits paid to your ex-spouse’s current spouse or other family members. The same idea applies while the worker is living: family payments do not decrease the worker’s own benefit.
Can I collect on an ex’s record if I remarried?
Not while that later marriage is still in effect. If the later marriage ends, you may be able to collect on the former spouse’s record again. Ask SSA to look at the dates.
Your next step
Open a my Social Security account and write down your marriage, divorce, and birth dates. Then apply online or call SSA if a spouse or divorced-spouse benefit could be higher than your own. If you are comparing this with a lump-sum death payment or monthly survivor check, continue with Social Security survivors benefits.
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