{"id":378807,"date":"2026-04-02T20:41:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T20:41:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/378807\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T20:41:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T20:41:12","slug":"married-and-hitting-retirement-heres-how-to-increase-your-social-security-payment-by-thousands-of-dollars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/378807\/","title":{"rendered":"Married and hitting retirement? Here\u2019s how to increase your Social Security payment by thousands of dollars"},"content":{"rendered":"

Being a retired<\/a> spouse can have its benefits – Social Security benefits, that is.<\/p>\n

The Social Security Administration offers several ways for retirees<\/a> to boost their monthly Social Security payment<\/a>. While these options can lead to a big increase in how much a spousal recipient receives, many don\u2019t know they exist, said financial advisor Nick St. George, owner of St. George Wealth Management. <\/p>\n

\u201cI have seen individuals leave thousands, even tens of thousands of dollars on the table because they had no idea what they were eligible for,\u201d St. George said. <\/p>\n

There are multiple spouse-focused perks that the Social Security Administration offers. The three that tend to be the most important are spousal, survivor and divorced spousal benefits, St. George told The Independent.<\/p>\n

Three benefit-boosting options for spouses<\/p>\n

The Social Security office calculates an individual’s monthly benefit amount based on how much they paid into the Social Security system in their working years<\/a>. Because of that, some spouses earn bigger benefits<\/a> than their partners. This imbalance is what the following benefits are based on.<\/p>\n

\"Retirement-ageRetirement-age spouses may be able to boost their monthly Social Security payment through specific benefit programs (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n

\u201cSocial Security gives you two doors, your benefit and your spouses, and the great thing is that you get to walk through the better of the two,\u201d said Jacob Sadler, a senior advisor at wealth management firm Curio Wealth. \u201cSocial Security looks at both spouses’ earnings records and pays you the higher of the two amounts – your own benefit or the benefit you’d receive based on your spouse’s record.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spousal<\/p>\n

Under the spousal benefit rule, a spouse can opt to take the greater of their current benefit, or up to 50 percent of their spouse\u2019s full benefit payment. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis can literally be a 30 percent to 100 percent increase in income that the individual would not have earned if their record was not reported,\u201d St. George said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFull benefit\u201d is an important distinction. It\u2019s the amount someone receives at \u201cfull\u201d retirement age, which is usually 66 to 67 years old. <\/p>\n

The 50 percent is not calculated using amounts below or above the full retirement amount, which can be the case for those who start payments before or after full retirement age.<\/p>\n

Survivor<\/p>\n

Tailored to widows and widowers, the survivor benefit<\/a> allows a surviving spouse to take the higher of their benefit amount or 71.5 percent-100 percent of their deceased partner\u2019s benefit, according to the Social Security Administration.<\/p>\n

The percentage increases the longer the surviving spouse waits to retire. Rules also allow surviving spouses to receive their payments starting at 60, two years earlier than the typical early benefit period, Sadler said.<\/p>\n

If they opt to receive payments at 60, their amount will be 71.5 percent of their spouse\u2019s benefit. If they wait until full retirement age, they receive 100 percent of their spouse\u2019s benefit, Sadler said. <\/p>\n

\"\"(AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is one of the largest income jumps a person may ever receive, but many people don’t think about this one until something happens,\u201d Sadler told The Independent in an email. <\/p>\n

There\u2019s one catch that retirees need to know about this option, though: remarrying could end the benefit, Sadler said. <\/p>\n

Divorced spousal<\/p>\n

Retirees can receive a payment boost from a divorced partner if they were married to them for at least 10 years and have not remarried since. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis one surprises people every time,\u201d St. George said. <\/p>\n

Like the spousal benefit, recipients can choose between the greater of their monthly benefit or 50 percent of their spouse’s. <\/p>\n

Not only does the divorced benefit provide the possibility of a higher monthly payment, but an individual can apply for it without notifying their ex or reducing their ex\u2019s benefit amount. <\/p>\n

Important rules to know<\/p>\n

While the payment amount for the various spousal benefits differs based on certain factors, there are some general rules they all share. <\/p>\n

Primarily, a spouse can only use spouse-related benefits if their partner already started their Social Security payments.<\/p>\n

Secondly, recipients have to apply for the benefit on their own; the Social Security office will not notify them of any special eligibility. St. George said. <\/p>\n

\u201cHere\u2019s the part people don\u2019t love hearing: Social Security doesn\u2019t help you optimize this,\u201d he said. \u201cThey will take your call and process the request if you reach out to them directly, but they don\u2019t come knocking on your door.\u201d <\/p>\n

Potential recipients can apply for spouse-related benefits online, over the phone or in person. Applicants need to provide marriage or divorce documents, birth certificates and bank information, St. George said. <\/p>\n

Surviving ex-spouses must set up an application appointment with the Social Security Administration, Sadler said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf done right, these benefits can turn a modest check into a meaningful one,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

This article is sponsored by Credit Karma. We may earn a commission if you engage with their services using links in this article.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Being a retired spouse can have its benefits – Social Security benefits, that is. The Social Security Administration…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":363461,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[72,176,61,60,174,175],"class_list":{"0":"post-378807","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-finance","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-personal-finance","13":"tag-personalfinance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=378807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/363461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}