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If you’re ready to start planning for a brighter financial future, Rockbridge is ready with the advice you need to achieve your goals.
July 29, 2019
AllFamily FinancesRetirement
Rockbridge is involved in many organizations that advocate for children with disabilities and their caretakers. As a result, we’ve helped numerous families financially navigate through their working years and successfully transition into retirement. Special needs families tend to have common questions, one of which is how and when to file for Social Security benefits.
In order to provide a special needs child with the highest quality of care, it’s common for one spouse to stay at home full-time. As a result, the non-working spouse doesn’t accumulate a significant work history and their future Social Security benefit suffers. Sure, the non-working spouse could file for Spousal benefits, but today we take a look at a special filing method called “Child-in-Care”. Here’s how it works:
To file for this benefit, the working spouse must have retired and started collecting his/her Social Security benefit. At this point, the non-working spouse can file for and start collecting Child-in-Care Spousal benefits AT ANY AGE. That’s right, the non-working spouse can start collecting Child-in-Care benefits at any age. Moreover, Child-in-Care benefits have preferential calculations over traditional Spousal benefits. The non-working spouse is entitled to 50% of the working spouse’s Full Retirement Age (FRA) benefit. Benefits would continue as long as the special needs child remains an eligible dependent (more on this later).
On its face, the Child-in-Care strategy sounds like an excellent way for a non-working spouse to receive a significant Social Security benefit. However, there are two potential issues to consider:
So, how do you make an optimal filing decision? It’s important to consider the following.
As always, please feel free to reach out to your financial advisor at Rockbridge for an analysis that’s specific to your situation.
If you’re ready to start planning for a brighter financial future, Rockbridge is ready with the advice you need to achieve your goals.