{"id":292323,"date":"2026-10-17T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-17T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tododisca.es\/en\/?p=292323"},"modified":"2026-10-17T11:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-17T15:00:00","slug":"married-couples-social-security-2027-3355-spousal-benefit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tododisca.es\/en\/married-couples-social-security-2027-3355-spousal-benefit\/","title":{"rendered":"Retired couples will receive an average of $3,355 from Social Security in 2027: the requirements of the spousal benefit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Married couples<\/strong> in which both spouses receive Social Security will collect an average of <strong>$3,355 a month in 2027<\/strong>, according to the <strong>Social Security Administration (SSA)<\/strong>. The figure is <strong>$117 higher<\/strong> than the current $3,238, thanks to the 3.6% COLA.<\/p>\n<p>In many of these households, one of the two spouses does not collect a benefit based on their own work, but a <strong>spousal benefit<\/strong> based on the other person&#8217;s record. It is a little-known option that can make a big difference.<\/p>\n<h2>What the spousal benefit is<\/h2>\n<p>A husband or wife can receive up to <strong>50% of their spouse&#8217;s full benefit<\/strong> (the amount payable at full retirement age). It does not reduce the worker&#8217;s own check: it is an additional benefit for the household.<\/p>\n<h2>Requirements to receive it<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Age<\/strong> | at least 62, or any age if caring for the worker&#8217;s child under 16 or with a disability.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Worker&#8217;s application<\/strong> | the spouse who earned the benefit must have already filed for retirement or disability benefits.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Length of marriage<\/strong> | generally at least one year.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Divorced spouses<\/strong> | can qualify if the marriage lasted 10 years or more and they have not remarried.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>How much is lost by claiming early<\/h2>\n<p>The 50% is only reached if the spouse claims at <strong>full retirement age<\/strong>, which is 67 for those born in 1960 or later. Claiming at 62 reduces the spousal benefit to about <strong>32.5%<\/strong> of the worker&#8217;s benefit. Unlike the worker&#8217;s own benefit, the spousal benefit does not grow by waiting beyond full retirement age.<\/p>\n<p>When a person has the right to both their own retirement benefit and a spousal benefit, the SSA pays their own benefit first and adds the difference up to the spousal amount, if it is higher.<\/p>\n<h2>When couples will see the increase<\/h2>\n<p>The new amounts are applied to the January 2027 benefits. Each spouse is paid according to their own birthday, so a couple can receive their deposits on different Wednesdays: January 13, 20 or 27. Retirees can check how the age at which they claim affects the check in our article about <a href=\"https:\/\/tododisca.es\/en\/claiming-social-security-at-62-67-or-70-and-what-each-choice-really-does-to-your-monthly-check\/\">claiming at 62, 67 or 70<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>If one spouse dies, the survivor keeps the higher of the two benefits, as we explained in our guide to <a href=\"https:\/\/tododisca.es\/en\/widows-widowers-social-security-2027-cola-2005\/\">survivor benefits in 2027<\/a>. The net amount will also depend on the <a href=\"https:\/\/tododisca.es\/en\/medicare-part-b-2027-premium-cola-209-50\/\">Medicare Part B premium<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An aged couple receiving benefits will average $3,355 a month in 2027. How the spousal benefit works and who can get up to 50%.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":292324,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[12,10,2],"class_list":["post-292323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","tag-cola","tag-retirement","tag-social-security"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tododisca.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tododisca.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tododisca.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tododisca.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tododisca.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292323"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tododisca.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":292325,"href":"https:\/\/tododisca.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292323\/revisions\/292325"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tododisca.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tododisca.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tododisca.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tododisca.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}