Can my 13-year-old receive Social Security benefits when I claim retirement benefits at 62?
I'm planning to take early retirement at 62 next summer and just noticed something confusing when reviewing my Social Security statement. Under the 'Survivors Benefits' section, it mentions my 13-year-old daughter could get benefits if I die, but I can't find ANYTHING about whether she'd be eligible for benefits while I'm still alive and just collecting retirement. Does anyone know if children get benefits when a parent starts collecting Social Security retirement? My ex-wife has been telling me our daughter could get a monthly check once I start collecting, but I don't want to count on that money for her college fund if it's not true. I've tried calling SSA twice but kept getting disconnected after 45+ minutes on hold.
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Mary Bates
Yes, your child CAN receive benefits when you start collecting retirement! These are called "child's benefits" and they're available to unmarried children under 18 (or up to 19 if still in high school). Each eligible child can receive up to 50% of your full retirement benefit amount, even if you take early retirement at 62. However, there's a Family Maximum Benefit that caps the total your family can receive based on your record, usually between 150-180% of your full benefit. This is different from survivor benefits, which is why you only saw it mentioned in that section. You should definitely factor this into your planning, but be aware that taking early retirement at 62 will permanently reduce both your benefit AND any benefits your daughter receives.
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Oliver Brown
•Thank you so much! That's exactly what my ex was telling me but I couldn't find it anywhere on my statement. Do you know if these child benefits would affect my daughter's eligibility for college financial aid? That's our main concern since we're trying to maximize what she'll qualify for in 5 years.
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Clay blendedgen
I went through this exact situation last year. When I filed for retirement, I brought my son's birth certificate and was able to apply for his benefits at the same time. The SSA representative told me it's called "auxiliary benefits" in their system. My son gets about $875/month now and will until he graduates high school. One thing to watch for - there's something called the "family maximum" that limits the total benefits paid on your record. If you have multiple children or an ex-spouse also collecting on your record, it might reduce what each person gets.
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Ayla Kumar
•my neice gets this too but they didnt tell her about it when her dad filed!!! she had to apply separately and lost 6 months of payments because she didnt know. make sure u ask specifically about child benifits when u apply
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Lorenzo McCormick
Adding to what others have shared, those child benefits can be REALLY complicated with the family maximum calculation. When I filed at 62, my 14-year-old twins each qualified for benefits, but they didn't get the full 50% each because of the family maximum. Also, if your daughter has any income from a job, there are earnings limits that could reduce her benefits. And YES, these benefits absolutely count for financial aid calculations on the FAFSA, which really messed up our expected family contribution when my oldest applied for college. I've been fighting with SSA for months about an overpayment notice because they said my son earned too much at his summer job. Their phone lines are IMPOSSIBLE!
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Carmella Popescu
•I've been trying to get through to SSA about my daughter's benefits for weeks with no luck. I found this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that gets you through to an actual SSA agent without the wait. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU It worked for me when I needed to fix an issue with my daughter's benefits - finally got it resolved instead of getting disconnected over and over.
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Kai Santiago
does anyone know if the child has to live with the retired parent to get benefits?? my grandson lives with me (his grandmother) but my son-in-law is turning 62 and filing for SS next month. can my grandson still get benefits based on his dads record even tho he doesn't live with him?? they don't have a formal custody agreement if that matters
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Mary Bates
•The child doesn't need to live with the parent to qualify for benefits on their record. As long as the relationship is established (through birth certificate or legal documentation), living arrangements don't affect eligibility. However, the person who has custody of the child (you, in this case) would need to be the representative payee who receives and manages the benefits on behalf of the child.
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Lim Wong
Be careful about counting on this money!! My sister's kids got their benefits reduced because of the family maximum when both she AND her ex-husband filed for retirement benefits in the same year. Something about dual entitlement and benefits being offset. Social Security explained it to her 3 different times and she still doesn't understand how they calculated it.
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Oliver Brown
•That's good to know - my ex-wife isn't anywhere near retirement age yet, but I'll keep that in mind. The whole system seems incredibly complicated. I'm definitely going to make an appointment with SSA to go over all the calculations before I file.
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Ayla Kumar
when i started getting ssdi my son got benefits and it was automatically added when i filed. but retirement mite be different?? u should apply for both at same time to make sure u dont miss paymens
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Clay blendedgen
•There's actually a difference between SSDI and retirement when it comes to children's benefits. With SSDI, they automatically check for eligible children in most cases. With retirement benefits, you often need to specifically apply for the child's benefits at the same time. The technical terms SSA uses are different but the concept is similar - dependent children can qualify under either program.
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Mary Bates
Something important that hasn't been mentioned yet: If your daughter receives these benefits, they will need to be reported on college financial aid applications (FAFSA). These count as unearned income for the child and can significantly impact financial aid eligibility. Since you mentioned college funds, this is something to consider in your planning. Also, there are specific rules if your child works while receiving benefits. In 2025, beneficiaries under 18 can earn up to $22,300 without any reduction in benefits (this is the current annual earnings limit which gets adjusted yearly).
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Lorenzo McCormick
•This is SO important! We lost almost $8,000 in financial aid because of the SS benefits my son received. The FAFSA counts it as the CHILD'S income which is assessed at a much higher rate than parent income. We would have been better off financially if I had delayed my retirement until after he started college. DEFINITELY talk to a financial aid advisor about this before making decisions.
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