LoveItaly

Nytraveler,if married you would get whatever social security benefits you are entitled to predicated upon the formula set by SS. If those benefits do not equal 50% of what your spouses social security is SS will add the difference to make the lower salaried spouse equal 50% of the other spouses social security benefit.

No doubt your own SS benefit will be more than the 50% of your husband's SS benefit.

For a spouse that has never worked or worked very little they are still entitled to 50% of their spouses SS. When I say 50% I mean over and above the 100% that the higher wage spouse receives in SS benefits.

When the higher wage earner spouse dies the surviving spouse receives 100% of what the deceased spouse was receiving from SS. But they no longer receive the additional 50%.

If the lower wage earner spouse dies the survivor continues to receive the same 100% they had before the death of the spouse. But the 50% SS benefit is no longer paid of course.

SS benefits increase annually predicated upon the CPI.

Liz2005

Just wanted to say thanks for posting the original question. I had changed everything besides passport as well and we may need to take an emergency flight to Greece (death in family). I assumed that I would just book the ticket under my maiden name, but wasn't sure. Thanks.

lennyba

Thanks for the replies. I think my lazy (cheap!)self will just stick with the status quo and book the ticket under my maiden name.

Liz2005 - I'm sorry to hear of the death in your family. That's a sad reason for a visit to Greece.

LoveItaly

lennyba and Liz, my daughter had the same situation last summer. Her FIL in Rome was suddenly very ill and dying and she and her husband needed to get on a plane to Rome immediately. She had changed all her legal documents (Social Security, Drivers License, etc. etc.) everything but her passport.

The airline said for her to book the ticket in the same name as her passport which was done. No problem. She does intend to have her passport reissued (the State Dept. no longer makes an amendment to your currect passport). Time to me to nag again!

J_Correa

I think where the SS card comes in - although it is SUPPOSED to be only a record of your work history - is that in order to change your name on your DL, you must change your name on your SS card first. The name on the SS card and the DL must match. This was not the case before (my names didn't quite match before I got married and it was never an issue, but now they have to match).

My passport, by the way had 2 names on it - the name on my SS card and how it was listed on my DL, one on the front and one in the back as an adendum. The names were just slightly different.

Then when I got married, I had my passport changed - another adendum in the back. You can see how this can get fun when showing my passport to airport security - LOL.

Brazilnut

Really, why do we women have to change our names? It is too much hassle. Let the men change their name for a change!

Brazilnut

I meant to write: "Let the men change their nameS for a change".

Neopolitan

I've been surprised at how frequently women are keeping their maiden names these days.

We recently rented three apts. in California -- in SF, LA, and SD. What were the odds that all three apartments were owned by couples with different last names -- yet they all said they were husband and wife? Three out of three?

sylvia3

why would you be surprised? I'm always surprised at how many women do change their names; they have an identity for their entire life, then they marry and use another? I'm quite old, and I always thought it was an odd rule of law (until my mother informed me that I didn't have to; I think I was about 8 years old). And no, it was never a problem at all for the kids.

LoveItaly

Changing names when getting married is a hassle. And often women end up divorced or widowed and remarry and they have to go through the whole procedure again. I know so many women that have so many different documents that do not have the same exact name, I "nag" them to get all documents in the same name.

In Italy women do keep their maiden name. They may or may not go by the husbands last name socially. That gets confusing also.

Men are lucky lol!!

jules4je7

If your passport and ticket are the same, you should be fine. While I traveled in Europe, I can't think of a single time I took out my driver's license...ok, except that one time I drove in Greece and rented a car. I was on a remote island, so they didn't really care if I had a license anyway. HA.

Yeah, it's a hassle to take a name...especially if you decide to give it back. I only took my 2nd husband's name because it was significantly shorter and moved me up the alphabet a few letters, and the big bonus was that it bothered my MIL who already had a Jules marry into the family. Yes, I'm that mature.



Jules

Neopolitan

By the way, I knew one woman who decided to keep her maiden name when she married a guy whose last name was Whetsey. (I think I spelled that right).
It is not insignificant that her first name was Betsy.
No, I'm not kidding. I couldn't have made that up on my own!

nytraveler

Well - now I'm going to have to check this SS thing out. I had (perhaps naively) assumed that we were each entitled to benefits based on our separate incomes - which would mean we would each get the maximum benefit.

Ira seemed to say that if the beau and I get married I would only get 50% of his amount - rather than the full amount I'm entitled to based on my income.

For example - he would get $2000 and I would get only $1000 even though I'm entitled to $2000. I mean - the money in total isn;t that much - and I don;t know how much we'll be able to collect anyway. We haven;t reached the age of going into this in detail yet obviously.

But I don;t see how being married should reduce the amount a person should get based on their own income history.

nytraveler

Have just spoken to the beau and he says not to worry - since SS income is reduced based on your other income over a certain $ amount - and who knows what any of these amounts will be in 15 years. And if we get any it will be nice - but . . .

(My only experience with this is my parents and I know my mother gets 50% of my father's SS - but she didn;t work while we were growing up - so her income wasn;t near his.)

But - if it's true that a wife gets only 50% of her husband's benefits rather than what she's entitled to it's incrdibly unfair - especially since to a lot of seniors this is a significant part of their income.

Neopolitan

Sorry, Ira, but I think that information is wrong. I have several pairs of married friends who are currently both receiving their own full benefits.

Here is where some of the "misinformation" may have come from:

http://mediamatters.org/items/200508310003

Neopolitan

Actually if one married partner would normally receive $1200 a month SS, and the other would normally receive $1000 a month based on their own incomes, then they will indeed get that much -- $2200 for the two of them.

I think what Ira is referring to is that if one of them would normally receive $1200 but the other would normally only receive $300, then the lower one will actually be raised to half of the higher amount. In other words the $300 would be raised to $600. Together they would receive 1.5 times the higher amount, or $1800 total-- but on the other hand if their income would be higher based on their own incomes, then they receive the full amount.

LoveItaly

That is correct Neo!!!

And one further thing. Unless ones income after they start receiving SS is low one does have to include their SS payments to their annual income and pay taxes on it. I "think" the amount of the SS payments for tax purposes is 85% of SS payments but that may have changed.

One can get an estimate of what their SS payments will be when they retire by contacting the SS office. Also talking to ones accountant would be good too.

J_Correa

Good point about IF social security is around when any of us need it. My husband and I are planning for retirement as if the social security system will be gone before our retirement (we are 32 and 35, so in the interum decades between now and retirement, who the heck knows what will happen).

Sue4

Yes, you young'uns - don't count on SS!
I'm already collecting, and I hardly count it in my income (granted, I retired at 62, and never made all that much anyway). But by the time they deduct your Medicare, Medicare D (drugs), whatever,(and the taxes that you have to pay on it) it about takes care of my (well-kept) dogs!

And, another thought for you girls - keep your maiden names after you marry - I wish I had! I don't think that would have bothered my kids at all.

kayd

You only pay income tax on SS benefits if you have other income above a ceratain amount, in the $50,000 range I think, so people who have SS as their principal or only income do not pay income tax on it.