If you are receiving Social Security benefits and get married, you must report your marriage to the Social Security Administration within 10 days. If you wait longer, you can risk being penalized or missing out on payments. Social Security requires you to report changes to your status every few years, and you may face sanctions if you fail to report a change.

Once you report your marriage, you can claim a higher benefit as a married person. However, you should discuss your situation with the Social Security Administration before making a decision. The number of years you were married to your spouse will affect the amount of benefits you receive. During the Fidelity Survey, 52 percent of respondents said their ex-spouse had an influence on their benefit amount.

The rules on when you have to report marriage to social security vary by state. In most states, you must be married at least one year before you can claim a spouse benefit. However, there are exceptions to this rule. If your ex-spouse was receiving Social Security benefits for at least 10 years before you married, you may be able to collect their full benefit. However, if you remarry before the year is up, you will lose the benefits.

The spousal benefit is often underutilized. It depends on your age and whether your spouse was working for at least 10 years. You must also be under 62 years old and care for a child younger than 16 or receive disability benefits before you can claim this benefit. There are other caveats for claiming this benefit, so it’s important to know more about this naasongs.net benefit.