5 Things That Can Reduce or Eliminate Your Spousal Social Security Benefits Entirely

As you make your retirement plan, it's important to understand all of the different kinds of benefits available to you. This can include spousal benefits, which could total up to 50% of your spouse's primary benefit amount.

Since spousal benefits could provide thousands of dollars in annual retirement income, it's important to understand the applicable rules for claiming them, as there are certain things you could do that end up reducing or eliminating your benefits entirely. You don't want this to happen to you by mistake.

To avoid an unexpected cut to your retirement income, here are a few key things to be aware of that could affect your spousal benefits.

Divorcing before 10 years of marriage

Getting divorced is one of the most common reasons for losing access to spousal benefits. However, not every divorce ends your eligibility. If you were married for at least 10 years, you can collect benefits on a spouse's work record. Unfortunately, if you are a day short of a decade, you lose that opportunity.

You obviously don't want to stay married for years just to get more Social Security income. But if you are close to the 10-year mark, putting off signing the divorce papers until you have 10 years of marriage under your belt could provide you with spousal benefits you need to feel secure in retirement.

It's worth noting that when you collect spousal benefits, this doesn't affect your spouse whose work record these benefits are based on. And your ex can't stop you from collecting these benefits, even if your divorce decree says otherwise.

Remarrying

If you are divorced, you must be careful about remarrying if you are expecting to collect benefits on your ex's work history. If you get remarried, you will give up the opportunity to collect spousal benefits on your ex's record. This is true at any age, unlike with survivor benefits, as you can retain eligibility for those if you don't get remarried until after age 60 (or after age 50 if disabled).

It is worth noting that if you remarry and then get divorced, you can regain eligibility for spousal benefits.

And, in some cases, if you remarry the same person twice, the length of both marriages can be added together to see if you meet the 10-year requirement. However, the timeline for when the marriages happened matters here, so you'll need to check with Social Security to see if your combined years of marriage qualify you.

Claiming benefits before full retirement age

If you claim your benefits before your full retirement age, you will end up forfeiting some of the spousal benefits you'd otherwise be eligible for.

Specifically, you lose 25/36 of 1% for each month that you claim spousal benefits prior to your full retirement age for the first 36 months. If you claim more than 36 months early, your benefit is further reduced by 5/12 of 1% per month.

This can have a big impact. If you claim your spousal benefits at 62, you will collect only 32.5% of your spouse's primary insurance amount compared to 50% if you waited until your full retirement age.

Working too much

If you work before full retirement age while collecting spousal benefits, you could also temporarily forfeit some of your payments. That's because there is an earnings test in play. You must report your income to the Social Security Administration, and if it exceeds a specific threshold, the SSA begins withholding some of your benefits.

In 2026:

• If you won't reach FRA all year, you lose $1 in benefits for every $2 earned above $24,480.
• If you'll hit FRA sometime during the year, you lose $1 in benefits for every $3 earned above $65,160.

At your full retirement age, benefits are recalculated to account for the income you missed because of your higher earnings. So, this isn't necessarily a bad thing if you forfeit this income for a while because it can lead to higher benefits later. But you need to be aware of it so you don't plan for both income sources at the same time.

Once you have reached your FRA, you can work as much as you want.

Being entitled to your own benefit

Finally, if you are entitled to your own retirement benefits and they are larger than your spousal benefits, you will not be able to claim both. And you can't pick and choose which you want.

If you try to file for just spousal benefits in order to wait to claim your own (higher) retirement benefit, you are deemed to be filing for both and will get your own benefit instead.

This can work the other way, though. You aren't eligible for spousal benefits until the person whose work record they are being claimed on is collecting their own retirement or disability benefits. So if you are a lower-earning wife and your husband waits to claim his benefits, you can start your own retirement checks. Since you aren't eligible yet for spousal benefits, you can't claim them, so they won't be affected.

Then, when your husband does file for his own benefits, you can start collecting your spousal benefit. This works regardless of whether the husband or wife is the high earner. But it works only if your spousal benefit is higher than your own benefit. Still, it's worth keeping in mind.

Correcting a myth

While there are lots of ways to lose your Social Security spousal benefits, there is one fewer way now thanks to changes in the law.

Traditionally, the Government Pension Offset reduced or eliminated Social Security spousal and survivor benefits for people who collected a government pension from a job where they did not pay Social Security taxes. But the GPO was repealed through the Social Security Fairness Act signed into law in 2025, opening the door for many more people to get Social Security benefits.

If you previously did not claim spousal or survivor benefits because you thought you wouldn't be eligible due to the GPO, you should check with the Social Security Administration to see if you should apply. You don't want to leave benefits on the table.

Bottom line

Inadvertently making a decision that reduces or eliminates your spousal benefits is one of the biggest financial mistakes that you could make. Knowing the rules about what affects your benefits will help you make informed choices and maximize the money you have coming in so you can have the financial security you deserve.

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