Certain factors of financial situations in your life may change after you qualify for increased Social Security benefits.
If you become eligible for Security or Supplemental Security Income (SSI), or anyone in your family, here are certain circumstances that may grant a raise in the amount of your benefits.
The death of a present or former spouse is one example. In this instance, a higher survivor benefit may be granted depending on their income records.
If your present and former spouse both passed away, you can still receive a higher survivor benefit even if you have an existing benefit from the other dead spouse.
If your marriage from your dead ex-spouse lasted for at least ten years before divorce, you are beyond 60, beyond 50-59 for disabled, you are eligible for benefits.
Recommended Read: How Will The Early Cut on Social Security Benefits Affect you?
However, this age and length of marriage requirements may change if you are taking care of your child younger than 16, disabled from your previous marriage, or naturally or legally adopted.
Another basis for getting Social Security benefits is your spouse’s work, granting you also have worked.
You become qualified for a higher retirement benefit based on your work. If you continue to work beyond your retirement age, you will also increase your Social Security benefits.
Every extra year of work adds income to your Social Security record. The more working years you add, the higher your benefits will be when you retire.
Finally, another scenario is when your adult child dies and he/she has paid at least half of your support, you can qualify for a higher parent’s benefit depending on the employment history of your child.
It is required that you are 62 years old, you are natural parents of the deceased, a step parent or adoptive parent of the deceased before they reached 16, you show prompt documents to prove your deceased child helped pay at least on-half of their support to you, you did not marry after the deceased’s death, and the deceased has enough work credits.
Qualified parents may get 82.5% of the disability or full retirement benefits of the deceased worker. Both surviving parents may get 75% each.
However, this benefit ceases when you become eligible for a retirement benefit with a higher amount than the parent’s benefit.
Leave a Reply