https://www.thebalance.com/clearing-spousal-benefits-confusion-2388948
from what i see if the spouse has a record of their own and are collecting their benefit early they get a cut in their amount for filing early .
if the higher earning spouse files early too when that spouse files has no effect on the adder as all adders are computed off pia . they simply get their own reduction in their check too .
it is quite clear that as long as the lower benefit spouse who gets the adder is fra the age their spouse filed even if early has no bearing .
i will try to get something solid as to the math when they are both under fra and one is already collecting their reduced benefit .
the social security site is not clear on this at all as far as the adder on to an existing already reduced check pre fra .
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I’m turning 62 this year and I'm considering claiming my retirement benefits early, since I was just denied disability benefits. If I do, will this lower my wife’s benefits too?
Answer:
to answer your question: If you claim your Social Security retirement benefits early, this will not affect your wife’s dependents benefits, which are also called spousal retirement benefits. As long as your wife waits until her full retirement age to claim her spousal benefits, she can collect the full amount. Because dependents benefits are based on your primary insurance amount (which is based on your earnings record at your full retirement age), whether or not you claim benefits early doesn’t affect the amount of dependents benefits your spouse can collect.
Spousal retirement benefits are half of your primary insurance amount – that is, half of what you would have received if you had waited until full retirement age to claim benefits. However, if your wife claims the spousal retirement benefit before her full retirement age, her spousal benefits will be lowered permanently.
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if collecting an early benefit you always get your own benefit regardless , you just get an adder to it now , you already got cut for filing early
so now we have to see if the adder is dependent on the age the higher spouse took ss. i don't believe it becomes dependent anymore than if the younger spouse was fra . the age the higher spouse took ss is irrelevant when the lower benefit is fra .
i don't believe the adder is effected if she files younger than fra and is already collecting her reduced benefit which gets added to . i will check further ,