ArcaMax

In the past 27 years, I bet I have written hundreds of columns explaining spousal and widows benefits that are available to women on a husband's Social Security account. And usually if I have enough space, I try to squeeze in a line that says the same benefits are available to husbands and widowers, even though I know those benefits to men are rarely paid.

Why is that so? Because a woman's Social Security benefit is almost always smaller than her husband's benefit. And that happens for numerous reasons, but mostly because women tend to take time out of the paid labor force (and thus time away from paying Social Security taxes) to raise children. So a woman is much more likely to qualify for extra benefits off of a husband's Social Security record.

And the obvious reason why women qualify for widows benefits more often than men get widowers benefits is because most wives outlive their husbands.

And the numbers back this up. There are almost 2 million women who get spousal benefits from a husband's account. But there are only 140,000 men who get benefits as a dependent husband on their wife's Social Security record. Similarly, there are about 3.6 million widows getting survivors benefits but only about 170,000 widowers getting them.

But maybe times are slowly changing. In more than a few married households today, the wife is making more money than the husband, meaning she could end up with higher Social Security benefits than her husband. And maybe men are starting to take better care of themselves physically and thus living as long as, if not longer, than their wives. Why am I saying this? Because I've been getting more and more emails from men asking me about spousal and widowers benefits. Here are some examples.

Q: I am 62 years old. I've had jobs sporadically throughout my life. But most of the time, I stayed home to care for our children and later our grandkids. My 65-year-old wife is a doctor. She is about to retire her practice and she plans to file for Social Security soon afterward. I plan to file for mine at the same time. The work I've done over the years has earned me a very small Social Security benefit on my own. But I'm wondering if I will be due any spousal benefits on my wife's record. If yes, can I file for my own benefits now -- and then when I reach full retirement age, switch to the higher spousal rate?

A: It sounds like you will be due spousal benefits on your wife's record. But you must file for both your own retirement and spousal benefits at the same time. At 62, you will get about 75% of your full retirement benefit rate. And then that benefit will be supplemented up to around 30% of your wife's full retirement age benefit. Or to put that another way, if 30% of your wife's FRA benefit is higher than 75% of your own benefit, you'll get the difference in a supplemental dependent husband's benefit.

Q: My wife of 40 years sadly died last year at age 62. She was still working at the time of her death. I just turned 62 and am thinking of retiring. I always made more money than my wife, so my Social Security benefit is going to be more than hers would have been. Would I possibly be due any benefits on my wife's record?

A: Yes, you should be. You could employ what is normally referred to as the "widow's option." But of course, in your case, we'll call it the "widower's option."

In the answer to the prior question, I told the husband who was due two benefits (his own and something off his wife's record) that he could not file for one benefit and wait until a later date to file for the other one. That is because of Social Security's "deemed filing" rule that essentially says when you file for one Social Security benefit, you are deemed to be filing for any and all other benefits you are due at the same time.

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