US ex pats that married Argentine Citizen help

[Agribotics]

. . . PS: At the time my friend in Mexico inquired about the SS benefits for his wife, he was 68 years old and terminally ill.

He told me that he understood that his wife would have to be 65 years old to receive 50% of his benefits.

His wife was only 56 years old then, so he obviously assumed he would be dead before she could receive any benefits..

...and he hoped that somone like me (the same age as his wife) would help her apply for the benefit when she turned 65.

SS survivor's benefits rules. If the surviving spouse remarries before age 60 she loses survivor's benefits. After 60, no problema.

If you have children and you are of retirement age they can receive SS benefits until age 18 that equal half your monthly benefits.

We base your survivors benefit amount on the earnings of the person who died. The more they paid into Social Security, the higher your benefits would be.

These are examples of the benefits that survivors may receive:

• Surviving spouse, full retirement age or older — 100% of the deceased worker's benefit amount.
• Surviving spouse, age 60 — through full retirement age — 71½ to 99% of the deceased worker's basic amount.
• Surviving spouse with a disability aged 50 through 59 — 71½%.

 

[Lanick]

Hey amigo, Argentina is definitely a lot better to retire to with your $ savings and SS. To give you an idea; today went to chiro. A great guy and paid US$ 10. Round of golf at the municipio golf course is us$ 2 (two). Private tennis lesson us$ 8. Went to an upscale French restaurant in Recoleta with my wife 2 starters, 2 mains and a bottle of champagne us$ 70. 10 miles of taxi ride $ 5. Argentina have all the things of US or European life at a lot lesser prices. You don’t give up on anything to live here. You still have it all but for much cheaper. Argentina is not a cheap country but an inexpensive country! To get married, they need your proof that you’re single but you don’t need fbi checks to get married but to apply for the residency. Good luck.

 

[rickulivi]

If you are getting married and receiving U.S. Social Security, be sure to look into filing for her. She will likely qualify to receive a separate benefit based on being your spouse. The benefit could be equal to one half the amount of yours.

You need to be married for ten years before you can start collecting benefits as a spouse.

 

[florence]

Maybe there are some benefits that require 10 years, but not this one. my husband and I are not yet married 10 years. i don't remember our exact timeline, but this reference from SSA says it is one year. https://faq.ssa.gov/en-us/Topic/article/KA-01999

 

[Agribotics]

You need to be married for ten years before you can start collecting benefits as a spouse.

That's the requirement for ex-spouses to collect.

 

[rickulivi]

To Florence and Agribotics. Thank you for correcting me. I believed this was the rule “ Past and present marital status determines potential benefit eligibility (typically, one must be currently married, widowed, or have had a 10-year marriage to qualify), and the benefit amount is based on a person's lifetime earnings record in relation to a current or former spouse.”

 

[steveinbsas]

If somome who is receiving Social Security benefits is alive and married, is there a minimum age for their spouse to start receiving the 50% benefit?

 

[florence]

For the full 50% spouse must be 65. At 62, they can get a benefit but reduced. The formula is here:

https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/quickcalc/spouse.html#calculator

 

[Agribotics]

If somome who is receiving Social Security benefits is alive and married, is there a minimum age for their spouse to start receiving the 50% benefit?

I believe it's "full retirement age", which depends on the spouse's birth year:

https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/ProgData/nra.html

 

[steveinbsas]

If somome who is receiving Social Security benefits is alive and married, is there a minimum age for their spouse to start receiving the 50% benefit?

I believe it's "full retirement age", which depends on the spouse's birth year:

https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/ProgData/nra.html

For the full 50% spouse must be 65. At 62, they can get a benefit but reduced. The formula is here: https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/quickcalc/spouse.html#calculator

From the benefit calculator web page:

"A spouse can choose to retire as early as age 62, but doing so may result in a benefit as little as 32.5 percent of the worker's primary insurance amount. A spousal benefit is reduced 25/36 of one percent for each month before normal retirement age, up to 36 months. If the number of months exceeds 36, then the benefit is further reduced 5/12 of one percent per month."