Social Security Benefits Don't End With Divorce
The Wall Street Journal - July 26, 2008
A divorced spouse can collect a Social Security retirement benefit based on the work record of an ex-husband (or ex-wife), and it won't affect the latter's retirement benefit -- or the benefit of that person's current spouse, if he or she has remarried. In fact, the Social Security Administration won't even notify a person if an ex-spouse collects a retirement benefit based on that person's earnings record.
In general, a divorced spouse who has never worked is allowed to claim Social Security based on the record of a "working" ex-spouse, according to a Social Security spokesman. For the divorced spouse to collect on that record, the worker must be at least 62 years old and collecting, or be eligible for, Social Security retirement benefits. The divorced spouse also has to be at least 62 and unmarried.
One important requirement: A couple must have been married for at least 10 years before the divorce became final for the divorced spouse to collect Social Security based on the other spouse's work record. And note: Social Security is gender-neutral. So, it matters not whether we're talking about an ex-husband or ex-wife. What matters is that the divorced spouse hasn't remarried and that he or she earned a smaller paycheck, if any at all. (A divorced spouse, of course, is always entitled to claim benefits based on his or her own earnings history -- if that results in a higher payout.)
The size of the divorced spouse's benefit will depend on the age at which he or she first files for Social Security, as well as the size of the worker's benefit at his or her full retirement age. To get the largest monthly check possible, the divorced spouse should wait until his or her own full-retirement age to start collecting. (Full-retirement ages are listed at ssa.gov/retire2/agereduction.htm.)
The divorced spouse also is eligible for widow's benefits after the worker dies. (Social Security calls those "divorced survivor benefits.") Your current spouse also can claim Social Security based on your work history, along with widow's benefits.
In a situation where the divorced spouse would be collecting survivor benefits, he or she could qualify as early as age 60 -- or age 50 if he or she qualifies as having a disability.
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