Finally Made A Decision For A Path Forward

[Tybee]

I keep reading different things about this, and the lady at my local SS Office told me otherwise. But now I am on their website and it reads just like you have been saying. I really wish they would use "Spouse A and Spouse B when describing these scenario's. I am definitely going to call SS today and just be prepared to be on hold for a long time.

Good luck and I hope the lady at the local office turns out to be right!

[catherine]

Isn't it a case of choosing his or yours? I get my own DHs, which is double his, so maybe he could have chosen my SS at 50% or his own, but that would have been pretty much the same. I know when someone dies, you choose theirs or your own.

[Tybee]

Isn't it a case of choosing his or yours? I get my own DHs, which is double his, so maybe he could have chosen my SS at 50% or his own, but that would have been pretty much the same. I know when someone dies, you choose theirs or your own.

I don't think it's that simple--the website says this:
"Spousal benefits can start as early as age 62, but are reduced for each month they are claimed before FRA (the reduction percentage differs slightly from that applied to retired-worker benefits).

A Comparison of Free Online Tools for Individuals Deciding When to Claim Social Security Benefits (ssa.gov)

[iris lilies]

I can hardly wait until the “just a piece of paper” unmarried crowd starts navigating these spousal benefit waters.

I have no problem with people living together without legal marriage because they are adults making adult decisions.

Their problem more often than not is: they are clueless about the legal benefits of marriage.There are so many legalities that get fked up when forming a union without the legal protections (and obligations) of marriage.

[SiouzQ.]

Tybee was right - I just got off the phone with SS (only on hold for 1 hour and 20 minutes, lol). If I chose to take Spousal Benefits when K. files at his full retirement age in Dec. 2025, I only get a percentage (like 33%). The only way I could get 50% is if I wait until my full retirement age.

So here is what is going to happen - I have a phone appointment on March 14th (the soonest I could get)! I will be applying for both my SS benefits and for SSDI. To get my paltry $1055 will take up to 60 days, and to get Disability could take up to 8 months. I don't know what else to do at this point other than suck it up that I will have nothing coming in for awhile except random jewelry sales as my stock dwindles down.

K. has a very good job so we will have no problem getting by. It's more of a mental thing with me. I have to focus on my health like I have been doing. I have a lot of tests and appointments coming up to try to fit all the puzzle pieces together. I just got my latest Cervical Spine X-Ray report back and for the first time it said I had severe disc degeneration in C-5 to C-6 AND that it was finally confirmed that I have a set of extra cervical ribs which no one took into consideration for over two years even though I'd tell every doctor repeatedly that that was what I was told 25 years ago.