You said: My wife reaches age 60 in Feb 2020 and is considering applying for benefits (hers and the spousal adjustment under the "deemed application" provision).
CLARIFICATION: I believe you meant 62 not 60 - right? Since you said later in the post that she would reach FRA in 2024 - that would mean her birth year is 1958 and her FRA will be 66 and 8 months. That means she will reach her SS FRA in October 2024.
https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/retirechart.html
If that is correct, when she files for (early) retirement benefits in Feb. 2020, under the "deemed filing" rules now in place, Social Security will look at ALL RETIREMENT benefits for which she is eligible and give her the larger of the Retirement benefit for which she is eligible.
In her case, this will either be based on:
- her own work record, of which she will receive a reduced amount because she is filing for early retirement at age 62.
- OR it will be her Spousal benefit of which will be 50% of your benefit reduced by a % because she is filing for early benefits.
When You die, she will be eligible for Survivors Benefits and it is her own Retirement Benefit situation at that time that will determine what she can and cannot do -
This is the Social Security.gov page that explains Suvivors benefits and when they can be switched:
(about halfway down the page)
Situations from Social Security: https://www.ssa.gov/planners/survivors/ifyou.html#h2
Note each situation:
- If the Survivor is already receive benefits as a spouse, the benefit will automatically convert to survivors benefits after we receive the report of death.
- If the Suvivor is also eligible for retirement benefits on their own work record (but haven't applied yet), they have an additional option. They can apply for retirement or survivors benefits at that time and switch to the other (higher) benefit at a later date.
- For those already receiving retirement benefits, they can only apply for benefits as a widow or widower if the retirement benefit you receive is less than the benefits you would receive as a survivor. *
* If the Survivor becomes entitled to retirement benefits less than 12 months ago, they may be able to withdraw your retirement application and apply for survivors benefits only. If you do that, you can reapply for the retirement benefits at a later date when they will be higher.
In the above situation, the less than a year amount of the retirement benefit has to be paid back -
or has to be worked out monitarily before the survivors benefit starts.
You said in your post - We visited the local SSA office and were told that if she was receiving spousal benefits and I died before she reached FRA (in 2024), she would be offered the opportunity to decline applying for Survivor benefits until she reached FRA, rather than being automatically switched by SSA.
If they told you that . . . . they don't understand their own (current) rules.
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I came back to edit and give you a recap of the rule in plain language depending upon your wife's retirement benefit situation at the time of your death.
To recap the rule: these rules are designed to give the beneficiary the higher benefit of their situation.
1. IF your wife is getting spousal benefits at the time of your death - SSA switches her to survivors benefits.
2. If your wife is NOT already receiving retirement benefits based on her on record at the time of your death - she can apply for her retirement or survivors benefits at that time and switch to the other (higher) benefit at a later date.
If your wife is already receiving her own retirement benefits (or has been recieving them less than 12 months and wants to withdraw her application and pay them back) at the time of your death, she can look into which benefit (her own work record or Survivors benefit) is the greater and apply for it or keep recieving what she is getting under her own retirement - she gets whichever is higher.
It's Always Something . . . . Roseanna Roseannadanna