By Hans Goldstein, founder, Retirement Literacy Foundation · Updated Enrolled Agent, admitted to practice before the IRS.
Who can claim on whose record, at what age, and why the order you file in can be worth more than the age you file at.
The 2026 numbers on one page.
Thresholds, IRMAA brackets, RMD ages and the senior deduction: one sheet, sent by email.
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The three ways you can claim on someone else's record
Type
Who qualifies
Roughly how much
Spousal
Currently married; the higher earner has already filed
Up to 50% of their full-retirement-age benefit
Divorced spouse
Married 10+ years, now unmarried, both 62+, divorced 2+ years
Up to 50%, and your ex does not need to have filed
Survivor
Widow or widower, generally from age 60
Up to 100%, including their delayed credits
You do not get both your own benefit and a spousal benefit stacked on top. Social Security generally pays your own benefit first, then tops it up if the spousal amount is higher.
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If you're divorced, read this part
This is the most misunderstood corner of Social Security, and the one people most often leave money in.
If the marriage lasted 10 years or more and you have not remarried, you can generally claim on your ex-spouse's record.
Your ex does not have to have filed yet, unlike a currently-married spousal claim, provided you have been divorced at least two years.
It takes nothing away from them. Their benefit is unchanged. Their current spouse's benefit is unchanged.
They are never notified. Social Security does not contact your ex when you claim.
If you remarry, you generally lose the ability to claim on the ex's record, unless that later marriage also ends.
Why it matters: people who were married nine years and change, or who assume claiming would hurt an ex they'd rather not think about, routinely never ask the question at all.
Why filing order matters more than filing age
For a married couple, the higher earner's filing age sets the floor for both lifetimes, because whoever lives longer keeps the larger of the two checks, and the smaller one goes away.
The pattern most couples land on
The lower earner claims earlier, bringing income in sooner.
The higher earner delays, often to 70, growing the benefit that will eventually become the survivor benefit.
One important asymmetry: spousal benefits do not earn delayed credits. Waiting past your full retirement age to claim a spousal benefit gains nothing. Waiting on your own benefit does.
The widow's arithmetic: when one spouse dies, the household keeps one Social Security check instead of two, and the survivor usually moves to single tax brackets at the same time. Two changes, same year, both in the wrong direction. See what that costs.
This page is general education from a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. It is not tax, legal
or financial advice, and it does not cover every situation: rules differ for people with
disability benefits or minor children at home. Public pensions no longer reduce these benefits: the old offsets were repealed in January 2025 (SSA). Rules checked October 10, 2026 against SSA family benefits and SSA survivor benefits. Confirm your own facts
with the Social Security Administration at ssa.gov or a qualified professional.
Retirement Literacy Foundation · 501(c)(3) · EIN 41-5062266 Free education. No products. No commissions.
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These numbers change every year
The IRMAA brackets, the standard deduction and the senior deduction are all adjusted annually, and the
2027 figures are published late in 2026. The Social Security taxation thresholds are the one exception: those have not moved since 1983 and are not expected to.
We send one short email when the new numbers are announced. No campaign and no sequence, just one email
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Hans Goldstein, EA
Founder & Executive Director · Retirement Literacy Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit Admitted to practice before the IRS
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