Can I claim my wife's higher Social Security benefit at age 70 while she delays claiming?

Unfortunately, that's not how spousal benefits work with Social Security. You cannot collect a spousal benefit unless your wife has already filed for her own retirement benefits. The old 'file and suspend' strategy that allowed this was eliminated back in 2016 with the Bipartisan Budget Act. At this point, you have two options: 1) Take your own benefit now at age 70 (which is already maximized with delayed retirement credits), or 2) Wait until your wife files for her benefits, then you can file for spousal benefits if they would be higher than your own (though in your case, they likely wouldn't be since spousal benefits max out at 50% of her PIA, and would be less than your own maximized benefit).

your freind at the golf club is thinking of the old rules they changed it all a few years back... now you cant do the clever filing tricks anymore!!! My bro-in-law tried the same thing and got denied. just take your own now at 70, thats what i did. Youve already waited til maximum age anyway.

There's actually an important distinction to understand here. Spousal benefits work differently than most people think. When you apply for spousal benefits, SSA doesn't actually give you a choice between your benefit OR your spouse's benefit. Instead, they pay your own retirement benefit first, then add an additional amount if the spousal benefit would be higher. In your specific case, since your own benefit at age 70 ($1,780) is higher than what the spousal benefit would be (50% of your wife's PIA, roughly $1,600), you would simply receive your own retirement benefit. There would be no additional spousal amount. Also important: Even if the spousal benefit WERE higher, you would not receive the full spousal amount - you would receive your own benefit plus the DIFFERENCE between your benefit and the spousal benefit. Your optimal strategy given the numbers you shared is to claim your own retirement benefit at 70.

My husband and I went through this EXACT situation last year!! It was so frustrating because the rules keep changing and nobody at SSA seems to explain things clearly!!! We spent HOURS on hold trying to get answers. Have you tried calling them directly? Good luck with that - we got disconnected THREE TIMES after waiting over an hour each time!!

You might be thinking about restricted applications which let you ONLY file for spousal and not touch your own. But that option is gone now except for people born before 1954. The rules changed in 2015 and took away alot of the good strategies!!! your best bet is probably just filing for your own benefit now since your 70 and maxed out anyway.

To add one important detail - your wife's decision to delay claiming her own benefits is still a good strategy if she can afford to wait. Her benefit will continue to grow by 8% per year until age 70. Since she has the higher earning record, maximizing her benefit is especially important because if either of you passes away, the survivor will receive the higher of the two benefit amounts. By her waiting until 70, whichever one of you lives longer will have that higher benefit amount for life - an important form of longevity insurance.

btw make sure when you DO file that you do it online if possible! the SS offices are still backed up from covid and appointments take FOREVER to get. online was super easy for me took like 30 min tops

One more consideration since you mentioned you worked for state government: If any of your state employment wasn't covered by Social Security (common for some state/local government jobs), you might be subject to the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) or Government Pension Offset (GPO). These could affect your Social Security benefit calculations. Worth checking if this applies to your situation before filing.