No paycheck does not indicate no job was done. A stay-at-home parent can receive a Social Security payment. How to do it, is explained below.
To get the total amount of your Social Security pension, you must have worked for at least ten years and earned $1,640 per quarter (the minimum required). But suppose you didn’t want to go to work for 40 years and instead stayed at home to raise your kids. Even if you worked for 40 years, you might need to make more money to benefit from it.
Can a parent who stays home raise their children and yet collect Social Security benefits? You can do this, which is terrific news.
Half of your spouse’s Social Security payment may be available if you are married and have a little work history. To be more precise, you will receive a benefit equal to fifty percent of your spouse’s “primary insurance amount” when they reach full retirement age (FRA) under Social Security, which for most people is currently age 66 or 67.
It is called a “spousal benefit” when one receives half of their partner’s Social Security.
If you wish to receive this benefit, you must follow a few guidelines:
- Your Social Security payout should be at least equal to half of your spouse’s amount, if not more.
- You’ll need to be 62 or older to apply, and if you do so before you reach full retirement age, your payout will be lower. If your full retirement age is 66, but you decide to retire at 62, you will receive 70% of the amount you would have received at full retirement age.
- Spousal benefits are only available to those whose spouses are already receiving Social Security payments as of May 1, 2016, unless they qualify under the old “file and suspend” criteria.
- To qualify for spouse’s benefits, you must have been married for at least one year. However, the one-year rule does not apply if you are raising your spouse’s child as your own.
- Just one spouse per marriage can claim this spousal benefit.
It’s important to remember that spousal benefits may be subject to income withholding if you continue to work while receiving them. One dollar will be withheld from your benefits for every $2 earned beyond $21,240 per year.
Your rights to the benefits being withheld will not be forfeited. After you retire or achieve your retirement age, they will be factored into your monthly benefit amount. If you had benefits withheld, they would be included back into your new benefit calculation, increasing your total use.
Even if the marriage didn’t last ten years, the ex-spouse might be eligible for spousal support payments after the divorce. You and your ex-spouse, who must be at least 62 years old, cannot be married at the time of application.
Your ex-spouse does not need to apply for their benefit for you to obtain the spousal benefit, provided that you have been divorced for at least two years.
If you are a widow and your marriage lasted at least nine months when your spouse passed away, you can file for your deceased spouse’s Social Security benefit as early as age 60. If you hold off until you reach full retirement age to file, you will receive 100% of your deceased spouse’s earned benefit. Remember that there is a reduction in this survivor benefit if you apply for it too soon.