Help Wanted: Social Security benefits

From time to time the Help Wanted column focuses on a single topic. Today's subject is Social Security benefits.

DEAR CARRIE: I am a retired U.S. citizen. I live in Mexico and receive Social Security benefits. I married a woman from here who is not a U.S. citizen, nor has she lived or worked in the United States. I know she will qualify for benefits when she turns 62, but we were told that for her to receive her spousal benefit, we would have to spend 60 days a year in the United States. Is this correct? -- Retiree Abroad

DEAR RETIREE: Your spouse could receive benefits, but qualifying for them is a matter of much more than 60 days. Here is what the Social Security Administration says:

"If you receive benefits as a dependent or survivor of the worker, special requirements may affect your right to receive Social Security payments while you are outside the United States. If you are not a U.S. citizen, you must have lived in the United States for at least five years. During those five years, the family relationship on which benefits are based must have existed."

The guidelines are less strict for you as someone who qualifies for Social Security.

"Generally, if you are a U.S. citizen, you may receive your Social Security payments outside the United States as long as you are eligible for them. If you are a citizen of Mexico, you also may receive your payments as long as you are outside the United States, unless you are receiving your payments as a dependent or survivor."

DEAR CARRIE: I retired at age 63½ in 1998 and received reduced benefits because I started receiving Social Security benefits before my full retirement age. For the past 11 years I have held several part-time jobs earning $8,000 to $11,000 a year. And I have been paying into Social Security all that time. Am I eligible for increased benefits because I have been paying into the system since retiring? -- Bigger Benefit?

DEAR BIGGER BENEFIT: You could be in line for a bigger benefit if those years you've worked since retiring are among your highest-earning years. Here is what Social Security says:

"Each year we review the records for all Social Security recipients who work. If the latest year of earnings turns out to be one of an individual's highest years, we refigure the benefit and pay any increase due. This is an automatic process and benefits are paid in December of the following year. For example, in December 2011, an individual should get an increase for 2010 earnings if those earnings raised his/her benefit. The increase would be [paid] retroactive to January 2011."

And here is some information on how Social Security makes those calculations for a higher benefit:

"We calculate benefits using the 35 highest years of an individual's work history. When we compute a benefit, we first adjust, or 'index,' earnings to reflect the change in general wage levels that occurred during the worker's years of employment. This ensures that a worker's future benefits reflect the general rise in the standard of living that occurred during his or her working lifetime. We generally adjust wages only up to age 60. We consider any earnings in or after the year an individual reaches age 60 at face value."

For more on receiving Social Security benefits while living abroad, go to www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs/10137.html#when.

For more on estimating your Social Security benefits, go to www.socialsecurity.gov/estimator/.