Confused about spousal benefits: Can my husband get higher Social Security payment based on my FRA benefit with his SSDI?

Your husband can potentially receive spousal benefits, but there are some important details to understand. Since your husband is already receiving SSDI, he would only get a spousal benefit if 50% of your Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) is higher than his current SSDI benefit. Based on the numbers you provided, 50% of your benefit would be about $1,325, which is less than his current $1,875 SSDI payment. So in your specific case, he wouldn't qualify for additional spousal benefits because his own benefit is already higher than what he'd get as a spouse.

My wife got extra $ from my SS when I hit 66. You should go talk to someone at the office they can look at your specific numbers. Sometimes the rules are confusing and you might qualify for something

I went through something similar with my husband last year!!! The SSA told us that spousal benefits are calculated as 50% of the higher earner's benefit at their full retirement age. But here's the thing - you don't get BOTH your own benefit AND spousal benefits. They essentially give you whichever is higher. Since your husband's SSDI is already higher than what he'd get from spousal benefits, he won't get any extra. But have you considered what happens when one of you passes away? The surviving spouse can switch to the higher benefit amount. So if something happened to you, he could get your higher benefit amount instead of his current SSDI. That's worth planning for.

One important thing to note: when someone receives both SSDI and spousal benefits, they're subject to the family maximum benefit rules. This caps the total amount one family can receive based on a single worker's record. In your case, since 50% of your PIA is less than his current SSDI, he wouldn't receive spousal benefits. But know that SSDI converts to regular retirement benefits when he reaches his FRA. At that point, nothing changes with the benefit amount, but it might be worth checking again about spousal benefits then (though the same math will likely apply). If you want to verify all this, I'd recommend trying to speak with a Social Security representative who can look at your specific records and provide personalized guidance.

I had the same exact issue trying to call SSA about my husband's benefits. After getting disconnected five times, I found this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that helped me get through to an actual person at Social Security in about 15 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU They connected me directly to SSA and I was able to confirm exactly what others are saying here - my husband wasn't eligible for additional spousal benefits because his own benefit was already higher than what he'd get from mine. But at least I got a definitive answer from the source and didn't have to keep guessing.

My sister told me that you can add your benefits together and split them!! But maybe thats only for regular retiremnt not disability?

I really appreciate everyone's help! It sounds like since my husband's SSDI is already higher than what he'd get as a spousal benefit (half of my amount), there's no additional money available to him right now. I'm glad I asked because now I understand how the system works. And I learned about survivor benefits too, which is important for our future planning.

does anyone know if this works the same if ur collecting a government pension? my wife gets teachers pension and i heard theres some offset or something