Can your spouse collect on your social security if she reaches retirement age before you do? No. In order for a wife to collect Social Security benefits on her husband's income the following requirements need to be met:

1. The spouse applying for the spousal benefit must be at least age 62

2. The husband must be eligible to receive benefits, so he must also be at least age 62. Furthermore, the husband needs to actually sign up for Social Security retirement benefits in order for his wife to receive benefits based on his earnings. The husband can then elect to delay collecting benefits. This course of action is called "file and suspend".

To offer an example, if the wife is 62 and the husband is 61, the wife can start collecting benefits calculated on her own earnings, but she can't receive benefits based on her husband's income until he turns 62 and applies for benefits.

However, if the wife is age 66 and the husband is 62, then the wife can start receiving based on her husband's income (again the husband must sign up for benefits before the spouse will be able to collect based upon his earnings).

In the examples above, the wife can begin receiving benefits based on her own income as soon as she turns 62 (assuming she's got at least forty quarters and qualifies for benefits on her own), then she can switch to half of her husband's benefit as soon as her husband qualifies for Social Security.

Some points you should consider before applying for benefits:

If a wife applies for her Social Security spousal benefit as determined by her husband's earnings when she attains full retirement age (age 66 for individuals retiring now), then she'll collect 50% of her husband's primary insurance amount (PIA). On the other hand, if she applies at age 62, her benefit will be reduced to just 35% of her husband's PIA.

It does not benefit the spouse to wait until after reaching full retirement age to apply for benefits, as spousal benefits don't include delayed credits. Also, it doesn't benefit the wife if the husband delays applying for benefits because she will not get any increase in benefits that he gets by waiting to collect benefits.

When a spouse gets to full retirement age and is qualified to receive a spousal benefit or her own benefit, she may claim the spousal benefit now and postpone taking her own benefit so she can accumulate delayed credits on her own benefit.

A person can collect Social Security spousal benefits determined by an ex-spouse's earnings if you were married for at least 10 years and you are also currently unmarried. Should you have more than one ex-spouse which you meet the criteria regarding spousal benefits, you will get the highest benefit you qualify for. One edge that divorced spouses have over married spouses is that a divorced spouse won't have to wait around for a former husband to start collecting benefits as long as the pair has been divorced for not less than two years when she applies.

Finally, the Social Security retirement program is gender neutral, so while this article assumes that the wife is usually the one applying for spousal benefits, if the wife makes more money than her husband, the husband can sign up for Social Security benefits based on his wife's earnings.

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