Should I apply online or in-person for spouse's Social Security benefits when she gets spousal top-up from SSDI?

online is a nightmare. tried that with my husband's claim and they messed it ALL up. definitely go in person!!

Your situation involves what's called a deemed filing situation. Since your wife is filing before her FRA, she'll automatically be deemed to be filing for both her own retirement benefit and any spousal benefit she's eligible for. The SSA system will calculate both and pay her the higher amount. Based on the numbers you provided, it looks like her retirement benefit on her own record will be $750, and her spousal benefit would be calculated as 50% of your PIA reduced for early retirement. Since she's 62, that's a 30% reduction, so about $847.50 (if $2,425 is your actual PIA). So she'd receive her retirement benefit plus a partial spousal benefit to get her to that amount. I'd recommend applying online AND then scheduling a phone appointment to review everything. The online application gives you a record of exactly what you submitted, but having a follow-up conversation ensures everything is processed correctly.

I've been through this exact situation with my husband's SSDI and my early retirement last year. Definitely START online, but here's what no one tells you - call them 2 weeks after you submit the online application! The online system handles the basic retirement claim fine, but sometimes they miss the connection to your SSDI record for the spousal enhancement. When I tried calling the regular 800 number, I got disconnected THREE times after waiting for hours. I finally found this service called Claimyr at claimyr.com that got me through to an actual SSA agent in about 20 minutes. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU that shows how it works. Saved me from having to drive 45 minutes to the office and wait all day. The agent was able to link my application to my husband's record and made sure I got the spousal top-up correctly. Worth every penny to avoid the frustration!

My wife just went through this whole process last month. We did everything online and it was actually pretty smooth! Just make sure to click the box that says she wants to apply for spousal benefits too. It's easy to miss. Good luck!

I TRIED TO DO THIS LAST YEAR AND THE SSA COMPLETELY MESSED IT UP!!! I did the online application for my own benefits while my husband was on SSDI and they NEVER applied the spousal increase. It took 5 MONTHS and multiple visits to sort it out. They ended up owing me over $2000 in back payments! The system is totally broken. Don't trust the online process!!!

This is actually a fairly straightforward deemed filing situation. When applying before FRA, the SSA automatically considers entitlement to both retirement and spousal benefits. Here's what I recommend: 1. Apply online - it creates a record and timestamp for your application 2. In the remarks section, specifically state: "Applicant is married to [your name] who receives SSDI, SSN [your SSN]. Please consider entitlement to spousal benefits." 3. After applying, print the confirmation page 4. Call the SSA after 2-3 business days to confirm they received it and verify they see both benefit types being processed Regarding the benefit calculation, assuming your PIA is $2,425, and she's exactly 62 when applying, her spousal benefit would be approximately $848 (50% of your PIA reduced by 30% for early filing). If her own retirement benefit is $750, she would receive her own benefit plus approximately $98 as the spousal top-up. The deemed filing rules ensure she gets the higher of the two automatically.

my husbsnd just went thru this an it was a NIGHTMARE!!!! the online system is garbage. they lost our application TWICE and then calculated everything wrong. took almost 8 months to fix!!!! go in person and MAKE THEM do it right the first time. dont trust the computers lol

i know this is off topic but does anyone know if the spouse benefit is affected if the disabled person is getting a pension from a job that didnt pay into social security?? my husband gets a firefighter pension and i'm worried about WEP or GPO or whatever its called

Thank you all for the helpful advice! I think we're going to start with the online application but make sure to explicitly mention the spousal benefits in the remarks section. Then we'll follow up with a phone call to confirm everything is being processed correctly. If we run into trouble getting through on the phone, I might try that Claimyr service that someone mentioned. It's reassuring to hear from people who've been through similar situations. I'll update this thread once we get everything sorted out in case it helps someone else down the road. I really appreciate all your insights!

Good luck with your application! Just wanted to add one more tip - when you do the online application, take screenshots of each page as you go through it. I learned this the hard way when my mom applied and we had questions later about what she had entered. Having those screenshots saved us a lot of confusion when we needed to reference her original answers during a follow-up call. Also, if you do end up needing to call, try calling right when they open at 8am - the wait times are usually much shorter first thing in the morning. Hope everything goes smoothly for you and your wife!