Helping Seniors & Families
Those receiving social security income, approximately 70 million Americans, will be seeing a slight increase in their monthly payments this year. With a 1.3% cost-of-living adjustment (cola), the Social Security Administration has shared that individual recipients will see their monthly benefits going up by about $240 a year. Continue Reading A Modest Social Security Increase for 2021
Would you turn down $100,000 if someone offered you that sum?
You might be doing just that if you make the wrong choices regarding your Social Security.
A recent report by the financial planning firm United Income found that very few seniors are making the optimal financial decisions about Social Security and are losing out on more than $100,000 per household as a result. The average Social Security Recipient would receive nine percent more in retirement income if they made the right decisions.
Continue Reading Don’t Take Social Security at the Wrong Time
Social Security survivor’s benefits provide our significant others with financial safety after we are gone. But in order to realize the most from these benefits, survivors need to know the appropriate time to file a claim.
Continue Reading Managing Social Security Survivor’s Benefits
As America’s senior citizens become more tech savvy, the Social Security Administration has put more and more of its services online, whether that means applying for benefits or replacing your Social Security card.
Continue Reading What Kind of Tools Does Social Security Have Online?
Finding love later in life may be unexpected and exciting, but should it lead to marriage? The considerations are much different for an older couple than for a young couple just starting out. Before making this decision, you should consider consulting your elder law attorney to review your situation, including the following:
Getting married can have a big effect on your estate plan. Even if you exclude your new spouse in your will, he or she is permitted to take an elective share against your estate (usually one-third). One way to prevent this from happening is to enter into a pre-nuptial agreement before your marriage.
Continue Reading Is It Better to Remarry or Just Live Together?
Many people are aware that seniors are entitled to collect Social Security benefits that are calculated based on their spouse’s work record. What’s less well-known is that this benefit applies in many cases to divorced spouses. In fact, ex-spouses may even be entitled to survivors benefits in certain circumstances.
As a spouse, you have the option of (1) claiming a Social Security retirement benefit based on your own earnings record, or (2) collecting a spousal benefit equal to one-half of your spouse’s Social Security benefit. You are automatically entitled to whichever benefit is higher, and you can collect on your spouse’s record even if you never worked yourself.
A divorced spouse can collect benefits based on an ex-spouse’s work record, whether or not the ex-spouse has remarried and whether or not the ex-spouse’s new spouse is also collecting on the same work record.
But to receive this benefit, you must meet the following requirements:
Continue Reading How Divorce and Remarriage Affect Social Security Benefits
