Will my Social Security benefits decrease if I get married at 65? Confused about marriage penalty

My mom and her boyfriend went through the EXACT same thing!! They decided NOT to get married because she would lose like $500 a month from her survivor benefits from my dad. But I think that's different than your situation? I'm not sure if regular retirement benefits change when you get married. Have you tried calling SSA? Good luck getting through tho lol

There's a lot of confusion about this topic. Your $1,400 retirement benefit based on your own work record will NOT decrease if you get married. The confusion stems from people receiving different types of benefits: 1. Your own retirement benefits (what you'll get) - Not affected by marriage 2. Spousal benefits - Can be affected by marriage 3. Survivor benefits - Can be affected by remarriage 4. SSI (Supplemental Security Income) - Can be affected by marriage Your neighbor may be receiving survivor benefits from a deceased spouse, which can indeed be reduced or eliminated upon remarriage before age 60. Or she might be on SSI, which is means-tested and considers household income. But regular Social Security retirement benefits based on your own work record are never reduced because of marriage. In fact, marriage might actually increase your potential benefits if your new spouse has a much higher benefit amount, as you might qualify for spousal benefits.

Depends on what kinda benefits ur getting. Regular retirement no problem but widows benefits yes u lose them if u remarry. Also if ur getting SSI (thats different than regular social security) then ya marriage can mess that up becuz they count ur spouses income. But sounds like ur just getting regular SS retirement so ur fine

My sister went through this last year!!!! Her social security DID go down after she got married but that was because she was getting her ex-husband's benefit which was higher than her own. Something about how you can collect on an ex-spouse if you were married 10+ years but if you remarry you lose that. So complicated!!!

I spent HOURS trying to get through to SSA about a similar question last month. After being on hold forever and getting disconnected twice, I found this service called Claimyr that got me connected to a real SSA agent in about 20 minutes. They basically call SSA for you and then connect you when they reach an agent. Saved me so much frustration! Their website is claimyr.com and they have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU When I finally talked to SSA, they confirmed that regular retirement benefits from your own work record aren't affected by marriage. Hope this helps!

congrats on the potential marriage! dont let government benefits dictate your happiness, my friend. life is too short!

Doesn't the income tax situation change too when ur married? Like u might pay more taxes on ur social security if ur combined income is higher? Not sure but I think I read that somewhere....

One more thing to consider - if your potential spouse has a significantly higher Social Security benefit than your $1,400, marriage might actually INCREASE your total household benefits. As a spouse, you'd be eligible for up to 50% of your spouse's benefit amount if that's higher than your own. So depending on your fiancé's work history, marriage could be financially beneficial from a Social Security perspective.

I heard there's some kinda special rule if ur a federal employee or teacher too??

Just wanted to chime in as someone who went through this exact worry! I got married at 67 and was terrified my benefits would change. They didn't - not one penny. My $1,200/month stayed exactly the same. The SSA rep I finally reached (after many tries!) explained it perfectly: your OWN retirement benefits based on YOUR work record are completely separate from marriage. They're yours no matter what. The only time marriage affects things is with survivor benefits, spousal benefits, or SSI. Since you earned those benefits through your own work history, marriage actually opens up MORE potential benefits (like spousal benefits if your partner has higher SS). Don't let fear of losing benefits stop you from happiness - that's exactly what I almost did and I'm so glad I didn't!

I'm a Social Security Administration employee and wanted to clear up some confusion I'm seeing here. Your retirement benefits based on your own work record will absolutely NOT decrease when you get married - period. The $1,400 you're expecting will remain $1,400. What your neighbor is likely referring to are widow's benefits, which ARE affected by remarriage if you're under full retirement age when you remarry. But those are completely different from retirement benefits you earned through your own employment. Marriage might actually help you - if your future spouse has higher Social Security benefits, you could potentially claim spousal benefits worth up to 50% of their benefit amount instead of your own (you get whichever is higher). Don't let misinformation about benefits affect your personal happiness decisions!

This thread has been so educational! I'm in a similar boat - turning 63 next year and considering when to start my benefits. My partner and I have been together for 8 years but never married because we both heard these scary stories about losing benefits. Reading all these responses, especially from the SSA employee, has really opened my eyes to how much misinformation is out there. It sounds like the key is understanding exactly WHICH type of benefit you're receiving. For those of us getting our own retirement benefits, marriage is actually a non-issue (and could even be beneficial). Thanks everyone for such a thorough discussion - this is exactly the kind of real-world info that's hard to find elsewhere!