You’ll know it whenever the wedding seasons begins – the excitement of a morning ceremony or an evening gala is in the air. Many couples officially tie the knot during this time. Through your life’s journey, Social Security will be with you.
However, you may still have some questions about changing the name on your Social Security card along with the excitement of your impending nuptials. You may also want to know what happens to your Social Security disability or retirement benefits when you married again. Let’s start breaking down the four different ways in which remarriage may affect your Social Security benefits.
1. Receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits – If you receive SSI benefits and you marry, your benefit can be changed by your spouse’s income and resources. Your benefit amount will change from an individual rate to a couple’s rate if you and your spouse both get SSI.
2. Benefits received as a widow, divorced widow, widower, or divorced widower – If you remarry before age 60 or if you are disabled and remarry before age 50, you won’t be able to receive benefits. You won’t have the right to survivor’s benefits if you remarry before you turn 50 unless the marriage ends. If the marriage you had before your turn 50 ends and you remarried, you may become entitled or re-entitled to benefits on your prior deceased spouse’s earnings record. The first month in which the subsequent marriage ended if all entitlement requirements are met is when you will start receiving benefits.
3. Receiving Divorced Spouses’ benefits – If you remarry, your benefits generally ends.
4. Benefits received by a child under age 18 or student ages 18 or 19 – If you marry, the benefits ends.
You are not prevented from becoming entitled to benefits on your prior deceases spouse’s Social Security earnings record if you remarried after age 60.
If you are approaching retirement and counting on income from Social Security, it may be best to rethink about that second walk down the aisle. You also have to consider the rise of grey divorce in the U.S. For adults age 50 and over, the divorce rate has nearly doubled in the past 25 years as shown by the data from the U.S Census Bureau.
If you’re contemplating a divorce and you’re close to the 10-year mark, you may want to wait until you reach that anniversary. Financial advisor and President of Vision Wealth Planning in Glen Allen, Virginia Mark Smith said he knew a couple who did the same thing. To make sure the wife would qualify for benefits on her soon-to-be ex-husband’s record, she prolonged making the divorce final for nine months. If you marry again, you are eligible for spousal benefits on your new spouse’s record. To be eligible, you generally must be married for one year assuming you have reached age 62 and you are still married. Unless your second spouse earns noticeably less than your spouse, it wouldn’t be noticeable.
There are more things to consider when remarrying including social security taxability. You will feel the pain at tax time even if your spouse’s job may not affect your own Social Security check. If you have earned income coming in, Social Security earnings becomes taxable. The pay-check that your new spouse is bringing home every couple of weeks is included in the earned income.
Your household can earn up to $32,000 if you’re married filing jointly before your Social Security is taxed at the 50 percent rate. Before being taxed at 85 percent, you can earn from $32,000 to $44,000. You can only make up to $25,000 before being taxed at 50 percent if you qualify as head of household although it requires having one or more dependents. For the 85 percent rate, it’s $34,000.
Both Social Security benefits and taxes can become a complicated subject to explore but if you have the right help, you shouldn’t have a hard time making the right decision. A financial professional can give you the right advice regarding your finances when you remarry and a tax professional can guide you to making the right decisions when it comes to taxes. Consulting an experienced and knowledgeable advisor will not only save you time, but money and effort as well.
YourIRSTaxAdvocate.com