Destiny_Y_JD
Employee Tax Expert

Retirement tax questions

If you are eligible for both a spousal benefit and your own retirement or disability benefit, you cannot collect the combined total. If your benefit is higher, you'll receive only that amount. If the spousal benefit is bigger, Social Security will pay you a combination of the benefits, drawing on both your Social Security account and your mate's, but equal to that higher amount.
Page 7 of https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10035.pdf gives some good examples. 

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