When Social Security was first launched, most families only had one bread-earner, and only the working spouse was eligible for retirement benefits. This created financial difficulties for the spouse who didn't work (and hence didn't qualify for Social Security) if the working spouse died first. Thankfully the Social Security Administration realized this hardship and amended the law to let wives to collect benefits based on their husband's income.

The family dynamic has changed a lot since Social Security was introduced back in 1935, but there are still a lot of families where one spouse does not work, and hence does not qualify for retirement benefits based on their own earnings.

There are several requirements in order to qualify for Social Security retirement benefits, like:

- Age: In order to be eligible for Social Security retirement benefits, you should be at least age 62. Other benefits, like survivor benefits or disability benefits may be collected at an earlier age, but the Social Security eligibility criteria expect you to be age 62 before you can try for retirement benefits.

- Work Credits: You must work in a Social Security included job (i.e., where you contribute to Social Security by payroll tax deductions) for a minimum of 40 credits to be eligible for retirement benefits. You can gain up to four credits per year; so essentially, you must work for 10 years to meet the criteria for Social Security.

- Citizenship or Residency Status: You will be surprised to realize that you do not have to be a U.S. citizen to be eligible for Social Security retirement benefits. People who pay into the Social Security program may qualify for benefits even if they are not U.S. nationals, however they must stay in the U.S. to actually collect benefits.

And so... do spouses qualify for Social Security? Considering Social Security eligibility rules listed above, most full-time homemakers will not qualify for retirement benefits per se, unless they were employed for 10 years (40 credits) before they became a homemaker.

But, homemakers are entitled for benefits based on their spouse's earnings. Social Security spousal benefits help husbands and wives to get retirement benefits based on their spouse's income if they result in a higher benefit than their own. To be more precise, a spouse who has not worked or who has substantially lower earnings than their husband or wife can get up to as much as half of their spouse's total retirement benefit.

Apart from spousal benefits, homemakers may also qualify for Social Security survivor benefits. Widows and widowers can start getting Social Security benefits based on their late spouse's earnings beginning at age 60 (age 50 if they are disabled). Children of deceased workers who are below age 18 (19 if they are still in high school) could also qualify for survivor benefits. This is very beneficial for families with small children when the main bread earner dies at an early age.

While full-time homemakers who have never worked or who were working for less than 10 years normally won't qualify for Social Security retirement benefits on their own, essentially, they may be eligible for benefits based on their husband's earnings. Note: while this report has assumed that the homemaker is lady, Social Security is gender neutral, so males who choose to stay home to bring up the kids can also qualify for spousal and survivor benefits.

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