Can I claim Social Security spousal benefits at 65 while delaying my own retirement until FRA?

Unfortunately, that strategy was eliminated by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015. If you file for any Social Security benefit now, you're deemed to be filing for ALL benefits you're eligible for. This means if you apply for spousal benefits, you'll automatically be applying for your own retirement too - and if you're not at FRA yet, your own benefit would be permanently reduced. The only way to get spousal benefits while delaying your own is if you were born before January 2, 1954. Based on your age (turning 65 next month), you were born after that cutoff date.

my sister tried to do this last yr and they said nope! they make you take both at once now, sumthin about "deemed filing" i think they called it? unless ur super old and grandfathered in

The previous responders are correct. What you're describing was called a "restricted application for spousal benefits," but it's no longer available to people born after January 1, 1954. Here are your current options: 1. Wait until your FRA (67) to file for both benefits and receive your full retirement amount plus any spousal supplement if applicable. 2. File now at 65 for both benefits, but your retirement benefit would be reduced by about 13.3% permanently, and your spousal benefit would be reduced as well. 3. File at any point between now and your FRA, with the reduction percentage decreasing the closer you get to 67. If your own benefit at FRA will be higher than half of your husband's, the advantage of waiting becomes even stronger, as you'd only receive a small spousal supplement if any.

When I was trying to figure this out last year, I kept getting busy signals and disconnects when calling Social Security too! I discovered a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me connected to an SSA agent in under 20 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU. The agent I spoke with confirmed all the information about restricted applications no longer being available for people our age. It saved me days of frustration!

Anyone else remember when you COULD do this??? My cousin did exactly this back in 2012 - took spousal at 66 then switched to her own at 70. Got thousands more! Now they closed this "loophole" 😠

Wait I'm confused. Isn't SSI different from SSDI? Which one are we talking about here? My nephew gets SSI payments but never worked.

To answer your follow-up question: If your own benefit at FRA is higher than 50% of your husband's, then you'll receive your own benefit amount. The "spousal supplement" only comes into play if your own benefit is LESS than 50% of your husband's. In that case, you'd get your own benefit amount plus enough additional money to bring your total up to 50% of his benefit. Since you mentioned your benefit at FRA would be higher than half of his, you'd simply get your own benefit amount with no supplement. This is another reason why waiting until FRA might make sense in your case - you'd be protecting your higher benefit amount from permanent reductions.

THE SSA REPRESENTATIVES LIE!!! When I filed they told me one thing and then did another. GET EVERYTHING IN WRITING! And record the calls if your state allows it!!!! They'll tell you anything to get you off the phone and then you have NO RECOURSE when they mess up your benefits. I'm still fighting them 7 months later!!!

Thank you all for the helpful information! After reading everyone's responses, I think I'll wait until my FRA to file for benefits since my own retirement amount will be higher than the spousal benefit anyway. I'll try using that Claimyr service to actually speak with SSA and confirm all this information. It's frustrating that this strategy is no longer available to people my age, but at least now I understand the rules better.