SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE Ask Mary Jane: Social Security Benefits And Credits by Mary Jane Yarrington (NAPSA)—Q.I started receiving mySocial Security benefits at age 65; my wife at age 62. She is now 68 andreceives less than half of what I receive. Can she apply for the greater benefit or is she penalized for starting her benefits at 62? A. Your wife will continue to receive a reduced Social Security benefit. Benefits begun early are never increased (other than by annual COLAs) unless some months of early benefits are withheld due to earnings over the annual earn- ings limitation. Your wife is not being penalized for early retirement. The three years of Social Security benefits she received before age 65 make up for the permanentreduction. If you die before she does, your wife’s early retirement will no longer matter. Her widow benefit will be the full benefit you would receive if still alive. Q. My father-in-law just retired. His ex-wife is 55 years old. They were married 33 years. Is she entitled to any of his Social Security? A. If she remains unmarried, yourfather-in-law’s former wife will beeligible for the greater of her own Social Security benefit or a divorced spouseor surviving divorced spouse benefit based on your father-in-law’s earningsrecord. At age 62, she will receive 75 percent of her own full-retirement-age benefit or 35 percent of your father-in-law’s full benefit. If she waits until age 66 to begin benefits, she will receive the greater of 100 percent of her own benefit or 50 percent of his full benefit. She will remain entitled to a surviving divorced benefit if she remarries after age 60. A spouse benefit is not sub- tracted from the worker’s benefit; it is paid in addition to the worker’s benefit. Q. What is the minimum num- ber of credits needed to qualify for benefits? What is the minimum amount one has to earn to qualify? Are there any other minimum requirements? A. A wage earner is fully insured for Social Security retirement benefits or survivor benefits for dependents if he or she has earned credits equal to one-quarter out of every four calendar quarters after a 21st birthday. Anyone who has earned 40 quarters (10 years) of credits is fully insuredforlife. Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDD has an additional requirement. In addition to being fully insured, a disabled wage earner must have five years of work credits out of the ten years endingin the calendar quarter disability begins. Aworkerage 21 to 31 is insured for disability benefits if he or she has credits in one-half the quarters after a 21st birthday. Q. My wife retired at 62. She always worked in the private sector. I retired after 33 years working in a State Agency. I always contributed to Social Security. If I die before my wife dies, is she entitled to receive my full benefit, whichis larger than her own? A. Your widow would receive the full Social Security benefit that you would receive if still alive. Anti-windfall reductions apply only if public employment was not covered by Social Security. Your wife faces no reduction since she was never a public employee. Mary Jane Yarrington is a senior policy analyst with the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. For more than 40 years, she has been involved in the practical details of how both programs work. To see other questions and answers by Mary Jane, visit the National Committee’s Web site at www.ncpssm.org.
