Spousal Social Security Explained: Rules Every CFP® Candidate Should Know

And so for those of you who don't know, in 1935 is when the original Social Security Act was established.

And at first go, it only covered workers.

So there was no spousal family benefits that existed.

It was only if you worked, you qualified for Social Security.

And then a few years later in 1939 is when the amendment was created for spousal benefits.

And so this was spousal and survivor benefits.

And the context of this time, a lot of single breadwinners or single income households.

And so it was just one spouse working.

The other spouse was at home and wasn't working.

And so this allowed for spousal and survivor benefits for those who weren't working.

And again, that's the context of when there was a lot of single income, single breadwinner households.

And then a few other rules or amendments were added as the years went by.

Some of those, including the former spouse rule.

And so if you didn't know this, an ex-spouse can claim the social security of their former spouse, even if the worker spouse is married.

There's going to be a lot of terminology in this.

There's the worker, there's the current spouse, the former spouse.

So hang in with us with those different terminologies.

But for the former spouse rule, Go ahead, Tiffany.

It's kind of like a beehive.

There's the worker bees, the

drones.

Well, I think Jerry and

I were going to add a little bit more color on the background of Social Security of what's going on at 1935-39.

So as somebody who just helped their son go through final exams for eighth grade social studies that included American history, this is part of the New Deal package with FDR.

And this is coming off of the heels of the Great Depression.