Will my wife get 50% of my delayed SS retirement benefit or just 50% of my FRA amount?

Your wife will receive 50% of your Primary Insurance Amount (PIA), which is your benefit amount at your full retirement age, regardless of when you actually claim. So if your FRA benefit would be $2,500, her spousal benefit would be $1,250, even if you delay claiming and eventually receive $2,800+ due to delayed retirement credits. The DRCs don't increase spousal benefits, only your own retirement benefit. The only benefit of your delay for her specifically would be potentially higher survivor benefits if you pass away first, as survivor benefits DO include delayed retirement credits.

Just to add to what @profile2 said - while your delay won't increase her spousal benefit, it WILL increase potential survivor benefits if you pass away first. Survivor benefits are up to 100% of what you were receiving (including delayed retirement credits), versus spousal which is max 50% of your FRA amount. So your delay strategy still has long-term value for your wife's financial security, just not for immediate spousal benefits.

Our situation was similar BUT the SS office gave us WRONG info!!!! They told my husband his delay would increase MY spousal but after 8 months of getting less than expected we found out that was COMPLETELY WRONG!!! We should have just both filed at FRA because now we lost 8 months of payments he could have been getting!!!!! The SSA reps don't even know their own rules half the time! Make SURE you get everything in writing!!!

I went through this exact situation last year. Your best bet is to actually TALK to someone at SSA who specializes in spousal benefits because there are other factors like if your wife has her own work record that might change the calculation. I wasted weeks trying to get through on the phone until I found this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me connected to a real SSA agent in under 20 minutes. They have a video showing how it works at https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU - it saved me so much frustration. The agent I spoke with confirmed exactly what others here are saying - spousal is based on your PIA at FRA, not your delayed amount.

my husband waited til 70 to file and i still only got half of his FRA amount not half of his actual payment which was disappointing but thats just how it works nothing you can do about it

Thanks everyone for the informative responses. Looks like I need to reconsider my strategy since delaying won't directly increase my wife's spousal benefit. The survivor benefit angle is important though - that's something we hadn't fully factored in. I'm going to try to speak with someone at SSA directly to confirm everything based on our specific situation and earnings records before making the final decision.

wait I'm confused about something... if the original poster delays claiming until his wife reaches FRA, does SHE have to wait until then to claim spousal benefits? Or can she claim spousal on his record even if he hasn't filed yet? This whole deemed filing thing confuses me

Just wanted to add my experience - we were in almost the same boat last year. Wife is 14 months younger than me. What we decided was for me to take benefits at my FRA (66+8mo) so she could start collecting spousal right when she hit her FRA. Made more sense for our situation than waiting for those extra delayed credits. Every month we both collected was better than waiting for a slightly bigger check down the road. Run the numbers for your specific situation!