Crabby Mike
Recycles dryer sheets
Sorry, I imagine this has been covered before, but my search skills are not finding it. Currently, DW and I are both collecting Social Security, me on my own benefit, and her on spousal from mine. The wrinkle: she was one of the last to be eligible (she was born in late 1953) for a now-eliminated loophole that let her collect spousal, while allowing her own benefit to grow. In November of this year she will turn 70 and switch to her own benefit, which will be larger than the spousal benefit she is now collecting.
The question is: how do we initiate this change? Do we need to file something, or will it be done automatically? I believe that when we first applied for her benefit, we had to put something in a comment field explaining what we wanted to do. I also recall a frustrating conversation with someone at SS who insisted that we were wrong, and this wasn't a thing, but somehow got to another person who understood. If I understand correctly, she can apply 3 months before her November birthday, which would mean August 1, so I'm eager to figure this out.
The question is: how do we initiate this change? Do we need to file something, or will it be done automatically? I believe that when we first applied for her benefit, we had to put something in a comment field explaining what we wanted to do. I also recall a frustrating conversation with someone at SS who insisted that we were wrong, and this wasn't a thing, but somehow got to another person who understood. If I understand correctly, she can apply 3 months before her November birthday, which would mean August 1, so I'm eager to figure this out.