can you retire if you've never worked?

Question

my future mother in law is 49 this year, and she has not worked in 24years, when she 67 or whatever the retirement age is, can she retire if she has not worked when she comes to age of retirement?

well her husband died 3years ago in november so she knows she gets money from him but thats about, all i think she can get? not sure

Answer 1

dont know what she is retiring from, but as long as she has 40 credits (10yrs of work) I suppose she could techinically. But since she hasnt contributed in so long, she will get chump change for social security. There will not be a pension or 401k, though.

Answer 2

What they said on your other posting of this question is also good:
If she is earning money for providing day care and she is paying taxes on it, she will be able to draw from Social Security. The 40 quarters means that she has to have paid in taxes during at least 40 quarters to receive full benefits (Jan-Mar, Apr-Jun, etc).

If you are unsure, she should request a statement from the SSA that will spell out the anticipated amount she can collect when she reaches the appropriate age (which is not the same for everybody-it is based on when you were born). I have put in the link below that explains the SSA statement and how to request one if you have not received one.

Good luck (and pay those taxes!)

Answer 3

If what you are really asking is can she collect social security, maybe, on a spouse or former spouse's record. If she hasn't worked since she was 25, it would be very unlikely she would have enough quarters to collect social security on her own record - she'd need 40 quarters of covered employment for that, so unless she worked under social security from age 15-25, she wouldn't have it..

Answer 4

Retire from what? She would have to have 40 credits to qualify for any social security.

Answer 5

Sounds like she has already retired. I don't know how much Social Security will pay her though.