Social Security

Dear Liz: I was married for 18 years before filing for a divorce. I am 71 and my husband is 76 and still working full time. He waited until he was 70 to collect his Social Security. Social Security told me to wait to file until he did to collect the maximum amount. I did, and then they told me that 50% of his benefit is less than my own benefit. Therefore I do not qualify to get benefits as a divorced spouse. I only get $1,200 a month. I made about $30,000 a year while he made six figures. I do not understand Social Security. I am barely getting by.

Answer: You got some bad information. Divorced spousal benefits, like spousal benefits for those who are still married, are based on the primary worker’s benefit at full retirement age. Spousal and divorced spousal benefits aren’t eligible for the delayed retirement credits that increase workers’ benefits when they delay applying for Social Security after full retirement age. In other words, you couldn’t benefit from your ex’s delayed start.

Like other retirement benefits, however, spousal and divorced spousal benefits are reduced if the applicant starts benefits before their own retirement age. If you applied at 65 and your full retirement age was 66, for example, you wouldn’t have qualified for the maximum divorced spousal benefit. Your own retirement benefit was reduced as well. If you’d been able to wait until after full retirement age to apply, your own benefit could have been increased by 8% for every year you waited until age 70.

It may seem odd that your benefit is still greater than what you could have received from his record, given the disparity in your incomes. But Social Security is designed to replace a bigger chunk of lower-paid workers’ incomes compared with higher-paid ones, on the assumption that lower-paid workers have a harder time saving for retirement. His income may have been four times larger than yours in recent years, but his Social Security benefit wouldn’t be four times bigger, or even twice as large.

What’s done is done, of course, but there may be a larger benefit in your future. If he dies before you do, then you would be eligible for a divorced spousal benefit, which would be 100% of his benefit (the one he’s getting when he dies, complete with delayed retirement credits and cost-of-living increases).

Dear Liz: You say that people can receive divorced survivor benefits while remarried but only if they married at 60 or later. I am 75 and getting married soon. I hoped to continue to receive my deceased ex-husband’s benefits. We were married for 30 years. When I finally connected with an actual live person in the Social Security office, I was told that is incorrect and I will lose his benefits.

Answer: Social Security rules for spousal and survivor benefits are complicated. Divorce adds another layer of complexity. It’s understandable that many people get confused, but you’d hope the Social Security reps could get this right.

Divorced spousal benefits — the benefits someone gets from an ex’s work record while the ex is still alive — are what end when someone remarries. If your ex is dead and you receive divorced survivor benefits, you can continue receiving those if you remarry at 60 or later.