If my spouse collects her own SS starting at age 62, and switches to 50% of my SS when she turns 66 (our “full” retirement age), is her collection of my SS based on a retirement age of 62, or when she switched, at age 66.
Two loopholes for spousal benefits were closed recently, so many books are going to be out of date. I suggest making an appointment with your local SS office.
In the simplest case : If you are already at full retirement age and did not file early for your benefit and your spouse is 62 this year, they can claim a spousal benefit from 62-70. Otherwise, they are taking their benefit early. The amount of spousal benefit will depend on the age at which they start.
I believe that once a spouse starts their benefit - that is it. They cannot claim spousal benefit until you die.
I’ve actually made appointments and visited my SS office several times in the last couple of months. Despite all of the complaining about government bureaucrats, etc., I’ve had wonderful experiences with them. On 3 occasions, I’ve dealt with 2 different representatives (1 twice) and found them very competent and pleasant. So give them a try.
Most of that website is behind a paywall, but this page from there Updates Based on Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 | Maximize My Social Security is a pretty good summary of the changes. Which summary assumes you’ve already got a pretty good grounding in the details of how SS *really *worked before. Which details I doubt the OP has yet.
One thing’s for sure: the changes are intended to reduce a lot of folks’ actual benefits without looking like a cut in Social Security.