Half of theirs, on top of yours. Reduced early, and never more late.

The facts, in one place.

Six quotable sentences on the spousal benefit, from the regulations.

1. A spouse can receive up to 50 percent of the worker's full retirement benefit, once the worker has filed (20 CFR 404.333). It is paid on top of the spouse's own benefit only as the excess over it.
2. Claimed before the spouse's own full retirement age, the spousal amount is reduced 25/36 of a percent a month for the first 36 months and 5/12 of a percent beyond (404.410(b)): at 62 with a full retirement age of 67, 32.5% of the worker's full benefit instead of 50.
3. Waiting past full retirement age adds nothing to a spousal benefit; delayed retirement credits apply only to a person's own record. There is no reason to wait past it for the spousal part.
4. Example: a worker's full benefit is $3,000 and the spouse's own is $1,000. The spousal excess is $500; claimed at 62, the spouse receives $700 on their own record plus $325 of reduced excess, $1,025 in all.
5. Since the deemed-filing rules, claiming either benefit is treated as claiming both; a spouse can no longer take the spousal benefit alone and let their own grow, unless born before 1954.
6. A divorced spouse married ten years or more has the same benefit on the former spouse's record, without the former spouse having to file if the divorce is two years old, and without affecting the former spouse or a new spouse.

The spousal benefit by claiming age.

Half at full retirement age, reduced before it, never more after it.

How the spousal benefit works.

A married person is entitled to a benefit on their spouse's record: half of the spouse's full retirement benefit, once the spouse has filed. If they also have their own record, Social Security pays their own benefit and adds the spousal amount only to the extent it exceeds their own full benefit. The two parts are reduced separately for early claiming, on different schedules, and the spousal part never grows past full retirement age, because delayed retirement credits apply only to a person's own record.

That asymmetry is the planning point. A spouse whose own record is small has nothing to gain from waiting past full retirement age, and a spouse whose own record is large may have a great deal to gain. Since the deemed-filing rule, claiming one benefit claims both, so the old strategy of taking the spousal benefit while one's own grew is gone for anyone born after 1953. The calculator shows the two parts and their total at every age from 62 to 70.

Methodology.

1. Inputs. The worker's benefit at full retirement age, the spouse's own, the spouse's year of birth, and a whole-year claiming age from 62 to 70.
2. The spousal amount. Half the worker's primary insurance amount (20 CFR 404.333), less the spouse's own primary insurance amount, never below zero: the excess.
3. The reductions. The excess is reduced 25/36 of a percent a month for the first 36 months before the spouse's full retirement age and 5/12 beyond (404.410(b)); the spouse's own benefit by its own schedule and credited to 70 (404.410(a), 404.313), from the claiming engine already on this site.
4. The total. Own reduced plus excess reduced, at the claiming age and at every whole age for the chart.
5. Validation. The 32.5 percent figure at 62 with a 67 full retirement age; no reduction and no credit at or past it; a spouse with no record; a spouse whose own benefit exceeds half the worker's; and the excess method at 62. A transcription error fails the build.
6. Not modeled. Deemed filing's timing, the family maximum, the earnings test, a divorced spouse's independent entitlement, the government pension offset for public employees, and survivor benefits, which have their own tool. Educational, not advice.

Sources.

1. 1. Code of Federal Regulations (Cornell LII), 20 CFR § 404.331 and § 404.336 — Divorced spouse's and surviving divorced spouse's benefits. That a divorced spouse is entitled on the former spouse's record if the marriage lasted at least ten years, the claimant is unmarried and at least 62, and the former spouse is entitled to benefits, or is at least 62 and the divorce is at least two years old (404.331); and that a surviving divorced spouse of a ten-year marriage has the same benefit as a widow or widower (404.336). Retrieved September 6, 2026; verified September 6, 2026.
2. 2. Code of Federal Regulations (Cornell LII), 20 CFR § 404.333 — Wife's and husband's benefit amounts. That a spouse's monthly benefit is one-half of the insured person's primary insurance amount before any reduction for age. Retrieved September 6, 2026; verified September 6, 2026.
3. 3. Code of Federal Regulations (Cornell LII), 20 CFR § 404.338 — Widow's and widower's benefits amounts. That a survivor's benefit is the deceased's primary insurance amount at full retirement age, and that if the deceased had taken a reduced retirement benefit the survivor's benefit is limited to the larger of that reduced amount or 82.5 percent of the primary insurance amount (paragraph (c)). Retrieved September 6, 2026; verified September 6, 2026.
4. 4. Code of Federal Regulations (Cornell LII), 20 CFR § 404.409 — What is full retirement age?. The full-retirement-age table by year of birth for retirement benefits (66 for 1943–1954, rising two months a year through 1959, 67 for 1960 and later), paragraph (a); and for widow's and widower's benefits, two birth years behind it (66 for 1945–1956, 67 for 1962 and later), paragraph (b). Retrieved September 4, 2026; verified September 4, 2026.
5. 5. Code of Federal Regulations (Cornell LII), 20 CFR § 404.410 — How does SSA reduce my old-age benefits when my entitlement begins before full retirement age?. The early-claiming reduction: 5/9 of one percent for each of the first 36 months before full retirement age and 5/12 of one percent for each month beyond 36. Retrieved September 4, 2026; verified September 4, 2026.
6. 6. Code of Federal Regulations (Cornell LII), 20 CFR § 404.313 — What are delayed retirement credits and how do they increase my old-age benefit amount?. The delayed retirement credit of 2/3 of one percent for each month of delay past full retirement age for those born in 1943 or later, accruing until the month age 70 is reached. Retrieved September 4, 2026; verified September 4, 2026.

Revision history.

This tool reads the Social Security record; its history is below.

September 6, 2026

Added the spousal benefit fraction (404.333) and its reduction (404.410(b)) for the spousal benefit tool.

September 6, 2026

Added the survivor full-retirement-age table (404.409(b)), the 28.5 percent survivor reduction from age 60 (404.410(c)), and the widow's limit (404.338(c)) for the survivor benefit timing tool.

September 4, 2026

First release: the full-retirement-age table, the early reduction fractions, and the delayed retirement credit transcribed from 20 CFR 404.409, 404.410, and 404.313, with the claiming calculator built on them.

Canonical address: https://consideratecapital.com/tools/spousal-benefit-calculator