Own benefit first, then the top-up
The rule sounds simple (“up to half”), but the mechanics confuse almost everyone. Social Security always pays your own retirement benefit first. If half of your spouse’s full-retirement-age amount (their primary insurance amount, or PIA) is more than your own PIA, you get a top-up covering the difference.
A rule-book illustration: the higher earner’s PIA is $3,000, so the spousal ceiling is $1,500. If the lower earner’s own PIA is $1,100, they receive their $1,100 plus a $400 top-up. If their own PIA is $1,700, there is no top-up at all; “up to half” only matters when half is more than your own. (Source: ssa.gov, benefits for spouses.)
What early claiming does (and what waiting doesn’t)
Claim the spousal portion before your own full retirement age and it shrinks permanently; at 62 it’s roughly a third smaller. And unlike your own retirement benefit, spousal benefits never earn delayed retirement credits: waiting past your FRA adds nothing to a spousal amount, even though it adds 8% a year to your own. That asymmetry is why couples’ timing is a genuine two-variable decision: each combination of two claiming ages produces a different household total.
One more wrinkle: under today’s deemed-filing rules (everyone born after January 1, 1954), you can’t claim a spousal benefit alone and let your own grow: filing for one is filing for both.
Divorced? The record still counts
If the marriage lasted 10 years or more, you’re 62 or older, and you haven’t remarried, you can receive up to half of your ex’s full-retirement-age amount. It doesn’t reduce their check, and Social Security doesn’t notify them.
Seeing your own household’s grid
The Whenwise app’s Couple tab computes both checks for every combination of claiming ages (your own benefits, the top-up if one applies, and the household total) from your two birth dates and earnings, on your iPhone. For the single-person picture first, start with Social Security at 62 vs 67 vs 70; for the timing trade-off, the break-even calculator is free. One boundary we keep honest: Whenwise doesn’t compute survivor benefits yet; the rules have edge cases we haven’t verified to our standard, so the app says so rather than guessing.