Spousal Benefits as the Laws Exist Now - YouTube

Okay, let's talk about spousal benefits and again

first I'm going to do the part that hasn't changed, then I'm gonna do the change,

then I'm gonna do the transition period. So the part that hasn't changed is your basic

spousal benefit. So PIA, when it says "John's PIA," PIA is "primary insurance amount."

Which is the amount that he would be entitled to at age 66. Alright so let's

assume that John is 66 and assume his wife Jane is 66. And his primary insurance amount

is $2,000 based on his earnings record and let's also assume Jane worked,

but she didn't work as many years and she didn't work for as high a salary,

and her primary insurance amount is $800. Alright and let's assume under existing

law and potentially grandfathered in the new law, John applies for social

security. We'll talk about suspending later, but he either applies and suspends,

or he just applies. Jane would be entitled to a spousal benefit that would

end up being one half of his benefit when he was 66 years old.

Alright so she can get $1000 a month and even though on her record it would be $800 a month.

In addition her record, let's say she never worked, and her primary insurance amount is $0. She could still get $1,000 a month.

ok all right

That is called your basic spousal benefit, which has not changed.

Alright nown in order for that to happen the primary worker, in this case

John, he had to have filed for benefits.

He couldn't when he was aged 66 he couldn't just sit on the spot and do

nothing and then his wife files for the spousal benefit. He would actually have to

file for a spousal benefit. Alright, she his wife, and by the way of using the old

sexist paradigm where the husband was the primary, and I apologize for that but

it's just easier to communicate, let's assume that he was 66, she could actually

for a spousal benefit at age 62, but if she did that she would have to suffer an actuarial reduction

wouldn't be able to get 50%, she might get only 35%. And as you'll see there's some other

problems with her filing early. This is strategy now and it might change a little

bit but at least under the existing and old law in almost all cases, one of the primary

insurance worker or a person with a stronger social security record to work

until age 70. And you'll see why. But anyway the spousal benefits are based

on the primary worker's primary insurance amount and which is the amount he would be

receiving at 66. Okay now the other thing is divorce. Let's say

you were in your marriage, and the husband, again using the sexist paradigm, the husband was the primary earner and he had a big earnings record and the spouse did not.

Let's say you were married for 10 years or longer. You would then still be able to file for a spousal benefit,

even though you are divorced. And you can do that if you are unmarried and,

if you're at least 62 years old, but it gets more fun than that. You can have more than one ex-spouse collecting on one's

spouse's record. So let's say you were thirty years old, you had a good job and

good earnings record, he got married -

actually you can get married at 20 - the marriage last 10 years, it doesn't work, get divorced,

marry somebody else. That will last 10 years. And now we're from 20 to

30 for the first one, 30 to 40 for the next. Then you have to keep

paying for these divorces, so you're still working. And you marry somebody else

that goes from 40 to 50 and you marry somebody else that goes from 50 to 60.

Then you divorce that person and marry somebody else and that one goes from 60 to 70. So what do we have, 5 marriages there?

Assuming they didn't get remarried, all five of your ex-spouses can all the spousal benefit on

the one person who is still working.

Is this a great country, or what?

Alright, now we're going to find out coming up this what's to be the change. In the existing law,

you didn't even have to tell your ex-spouse that you were collecting on them. And your ex-spouse couldn't do anything to stop you. So we had

some very interesting strategies and here was really nice strategy, this is kind

of a precursor to the apply and suspend. Let's say that because you were divorced

you have to go back to work and you have your own earnings record. But you were able to

take advantage of a spousal benefits from ex-husband. But the way this is also

true even if you weren't divorced. Let's just stay with divorce for a moment...you'll still get those raises, not withstanding the fact

you're collecting money from your ex-spouse. So you're still getting your

raises, but you're also getting a check. You're gonna see the change in the law is, but divorce planning for

social security - a lot of people don't even know that. And you can't make it up, you can't discover, "Oh geez, for the last three years

I could be collecting social security from my spouse, I'm going to ask for those three years back."

You can't do that.

When you're born becomes really important...now, we're going to talk about

the still existing law. If you're born before December 31st, 1953 which means you'll be 62

or older in 2015, you will be allowed to file a restricted application (we'll talk about what that is) and it doesn't matter if

the primary worker filed or if he didn't. If the divorce has occurred no more than two years earlier. That'll hopefully

become more clear as I keep going. First thing to know is that there are some interesting rules for divorce and there are changed in the divorce area.