Social Security Dependent Benefits: Your Guide

Social Security isn’t just for retirement. It also provides benefits to the dependents of covered workers, including spouses, dependent parents, children, and grandchildren. Ex-spouses may also qualify under certain circumstances. How much a dependent receives is determined by their relationship to the retiree. They may receive between 50% and 100% of the qualified retiree’s benefits.

Who Qualifies as a Social Security Dependent?

For Social Security purposes, eligible dependents can include:

• Spouses
• Ex-spouses
• Dependent children or grandchildren
• Dependent parents

Dependents may be eligible to receive benefits if an eligible Social Security recipient retires, becomes disabled, or dies. Here is how the program works, based on the type of dependent.

Benefits for the Spouses of Retirees

You are eligible to receive a spousal benefit if your spouse is already drawing Social Security. The payment equals up to one-half of your spouse’s monthly payment or their primary insurance amount (PIA). To qualify, you must be at least 62 or care for a child who is under 16 or who receives Social Security disability benefits.

You must have reached your full retirement age (FRA) to receive the entire one-half of your retired spouse’s PIA. That age is 66 years and two months for people born in 1955 and rises by two months per year of birth until it reaches 67 for those born in 1960 or later. Your monthly benefit is reduced if you choose to receive it before that time—the same way reduced benefits are calculated for workers who retire early.  

At the time you are eligible for the spousal benefit, you may be eligible to receive more from Social Security based on your own earnings record than you would receive through that of your spouse. If this is the case, the Social Security Administration (SSA) automatically provides you with the greater benefit.

Your spousal benefits may be reduced if you’re still working. The threshold is $23,400 annually or $1,950 per month in 2025—up from $22,320 annually or $1,860 per month in 2024. Your benefits are reduced by $1 for every $2 you earn over the limit. When you reach your FRA, your benefits will be reduced by $1 for every $3 you earn over $56,520 in 2023, and $62,160 in 2025 (up from $59,520 in 2024), up until the month you reach your FRA. These penalties no longer apply after that.

Benefits for Surviving Spouses

Survivor benefits are available to widows or widowers. The amount is based on the late spouse’s earnings record. To receive these benefits, you must be at least 60 years old or 50 if disabled. (The disability must have begun before or within seven years of your spouse’s death.)

You may also qualify if you’re younger and are caring for your deceased spouse’s child. The child must be under 16 or disabled and receiving dependent benefits based on the late parent’s earnings record.

There are several other options for surviving spouses:

• If you reach your FRA can receive 100% of your deceased spouse’s benefit
• If you are at least 60, the benefit ranges from 71.5% to 99.6% of your deceased spouse’s benefit

The survivor has some additional options. For example, a 60-year-old spouse could apply for survivor benefits now and switch to a retirement benefit based on their own work history at age 62 (or later), if that would result in a higher monthly payment.

Social Security also provides a one-time lump-sum payment of $255 upon the death of a spouse, provided the spouses were living in the same residence at the time of the spouse’s death.

Benefits for Divorced Spouses

If you are divorced from a retired worker, you’re eligible to receive an amount equal to one-half of your former spouse’s PIA, provided you were married for at least 10 years.

The rules are similar to those for spousal benefits described above, with one notable exception: You can begin receiving benefits even before your former spouse starts drawing their benefits. But, you must be at least 62, and the divorce must have been finalized for at least two years if you have not yet reached your FRA.

Divorced spouses who had more than one marriage that lasted at least 10 years do not receive multiple benefit checks or one for each marriage. The SSA automatically chooses the former marriage that will yield the largest benefit to the ex-spouse.

Benefits for Children and Grandchildren

Children can qualify for a benefit as the survivor of a deceased worker or as the dependent of a living parent who receives Social Security retirement or disability benefits. Children need to be one of the following:

• Unmarried
• Under 18 (or 19 if they are a full-time student in elementary or secondary school)
• 18 or older and disabled from a disability that started before age 22

Benefits paid to a child don’t decrease a living parent’s retirement benefit. The value of the benefits the child could receive, added to the parent’s benefits, may help the parent decide if taking their own benefits sooner may be more advantageous.

A dependent child can receive up to half of the benefit of a parent receiving retirement or disability benefits. Dependent children of a deceased parent can receive up to 75% of the worker’s benefit, calculated as a percentage of the benefit that the worker would have received if they continued working until retirement. If you care for a child and receive benefits, then their benefits may stop at a different time than your own.

If grandchildren become dependents of their grandparents due to the death of their parents or for other reasons, they can be eligible to receive benefits based on the earnings record of either of their grandparents. Great-grandchildren do not qualify for dependent benefits.

Benefits for Disabled Children

Children with disabilities can be eligible for Social Security benefits, but the requirements and application process can be arduous. Social Security says the child must have a physical or mental condition that severely limits their activity and is expected to last more than one year or result in the child’s death.

The family must also have few, if any, other financial options for providing care. Social Security considers the family’s household income, additional resources, and other factors to make that determination.

If the child and their family qualify, the child may receive up to half of the parent’s full retirement or disability benefit. A disabled child could receive a benefit of 75% of the worker’s benefit if the worker is deceased. A child who is 18 or older is also eligible if they live from a disability that began no later than age 22.

For families in this situation, it’s worth noting that there are other government programs, such as Medicaid, that have provisions to assist children and adults with disabilities.

Family Benefit Maximum

Benefits to dependents are subject to a maximum monthly retirement and survivor payout from Social Security to the family as a whole. This total figure is based on the worker’s own monthly payment. The total payout to the family varies, but dependent benefits typically range between 150% to 180% of the worker’s payment.

The Social Security Administration uses a complex formula to calculate the family benefit maximum. The families of disabled workers are subject to a different formula, one that typically sets the maximum at between 100% and 150% of the worker’s payment.

The Bottom Line

Social Security provides benefits for retired workers. But, most people probably don’t know that these benefits can also be paid to their dependents. This includes spouses, ex-spouses, children, grandchildren, and dependent parents. You must qualify to receive the retired worker’s benefits and you may be limited to how much you can receive.