Social Security spousal benefits after GPO repeal - will I get 50% of husband's early retirement amount?

Your spousal benefit will be up to 50% of your husband's PRIMARY insurance amount (PIA), not his reduced benefit. PIA is what he would have received at his full retirement age. So your spousal benefit might actually be higher than half of what he currently gets! But it also depends on when YOU claim the spousal benefit - if you claim before YOUR full retirement age, your spousal benefit will be reduced.

my sister went thru this exact thing last year!!! she thought shed get 50% of what her hubby was getting but that's NOT how it works. they base it on his full amount before reduction and then they reduce YOURS based on YOUR age when u claim. its super confusing

To give you the technical explanation: Your spousal benefit will be based on your husband's Primary Insurance Amount (PIA), which is what he would have received at his Full Retirement Age (FRA), NOT his reduced benefit of $2,150. However, if YOU claim spousal benefits before YOUR FRA, your benefit will be permanently reduced. The reduction is approximately 25/36 of 1% for each month before FRA, up to 36 months, and 5/12 of 1% for each additional month. The GPO repeal doesn't change these calculations - it eliminated the Government Pension Offset that reduced Social Security benefits for those who also receive certain government pensions. If you don't have a government pension, the GPO repeal doesn't directly affect your calculation.

Has anyone else noticed how INSANELY DIFFICULT it is to even talk to someone at Social Security to ask these questions?!? I tried for THREE DAYS last month to get through about my spousal benefits and kept getting disconnected or put on hold for hours. It's ridiculous that we have to figure this out ourselves when THEY keep changing the rules!

Just to clarify about the GPO repeal - this only affects you if you have a pension from government work where you didn't pay Social Security taxes. The repeal means those government pensions won't reduce your Social Security spousal benefits anymore. Based on what you've shared, it sounds like you're asking about regular spousal benefits calculation rather than anything related to GPO. If you don't have a government pension, the GPO repeal won't change your situation one way or the other.

my mom just went thru this whole process and ended up getting like $1,300 as a spouse benefit even tho my dad only gets like $2,100 because of the PIA thing everyone is talking about. its weird how it can be MORE than half sometimes!!

To answer your follow-up question about whether SSA automatically recalculates after the GPO repeal: If you were already receiving spousal benefits that were reduced due to GPO, SSA should automatically recalculate and adjust your payment. But if you haven't applied yet, you'll need to apply for spousal benefits when you're eligible. The GPO repeal just means they won't reduce your benefit if you also have a government pension.

Just make sure to apply a few months BEFORE you want benefits to start!! My application took almost 4 months to process (they're so backlogged) and they only gave me 6 months of backpay even though I thought I'd applied in plenty of time.

half of 2150 is 1075 not 800 just saying

To answer your question about how much reduction for claiming at 62 instead of 67: For spousal benefits, claiming at 62 when your FRA is 67 would result in approximately a 35% reduction. So if your husband's PIA is $2,500 (just an example), your full spousal benefit would be $1,250 (50% of PIA), but reduced by 35% to about $812.50 if claimed at 62. This is why it's often advantageous to wait until your FRA to claim spousal benefits if you can afford to do so.

You can find the exact reduction percentages on the SSA website here: https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/agereduction.html For spousal benefits, the reduction is 25/36 of 1% for each month before FRA (up to 36 months) and 5/12 of 1% for each additional month. If you need help with this calculation, you can also call SSA directly or use their retirement calculator on the website.