[Jbert]

I pulled off SS site Answer ID504 regarding this question
" My wife doesn't have enough work to qualify for SS or Medicare. Can she use my records?"
Answer applies to husbands as well. She can draw as early as 62 it says if the number holder is already drawing benefits. Here's our info to help answer.
1. We both are 58 this year. My wife has 34 quarters earned, 6 short!
2. I am disabled and drawing Benefits now, no medicare yet for me.
3. I can start Medicare in Aug 2008.
4. We both will be on COBRA until Aug 2008

My Question is " What and when can my wife get? Percentages will be OK.


Thanks so much for any input

Jim

[AtlantaTaxExpert]

Jim:

First, she has four years to work six quarters (1.5 years) in order to qualify. All she needs to do is get a part-time job (maybe 8 hours a week) making minimum wage for that 1.5 years to qualify on her own. If a high school kid can get such a job, she sure as heck can! This assumes she is able to work.

The computations has so many variables that you would need to speak to the Social Security Administration to get a correct answer. Overall, it would be better for her to get the part-time job.

[Joe E]

When your wife turns age 62, she will be eligible for wife's benefits on your disability claim. Those benefits may be higher than anything she could get on her own, even with the 6 additional QCs. The amount could be impacted by:
1) The Maximum payable on your disability claim, which usually varies from the actual full disability payment amount to you (in which case she could be "entitled" to wife's benefits but with no wife's benefits payable) to 150% of the full disability amount, in which case the wife's benefit amount would be about 35% of your full disability benefit, based on a wife's benefit calculation of:
First, 50% of your full benefit amount;
Then reduce that amount by approximately 30 percent (based on 25 percent reduction for the first 36 months that she is under age 66, then by an additional 5/12ths of one percent reduction for each additional month under age 66)
2) Any pension your wife gets based on wages where she did NOT pay into Social Security. Such reduction would be by 2/3 of the amount of that pension.
When you turn age 62, there is another option:
You can file for and elect retirement benefits. The retirement amount would be lower for you than your disability amount (unless your disability payment is reduced due to workers' compensation benefits or similar public disability benefits, in which case the retirement amount might be higher). The only reason to do this would be that the maximum payable on an account for retirement benefits is higher than the maximum for disability benefits. That higher maximum might give your wife more of an increase than the decrease in your benefits.This option of getting retirement benefits can actually be switched on a month by month basis, based on which benefit results in higher total benefits for you and your wife. An added attraction is that, when you turn full retirement age (age 66 for you), the reduction in your benefits will be eliminated and you will receive full benefits again (based on an Adjustment of the Reduction Factor- called an "ARF" by SSA- that removes any reduction for months for which you were entitled to both retirement and disability benefits- even though you can only be paid one of those benefits each month.
I hope this helps. I have worked for SSA over 30 years.