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divorced spousal benefits

Q&A: Eyeing a second divorce and the first ex’s Social Security

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Dear Liz: I was married for 12 years and have remarried. If I divorce again, am I eligible for my first husband’s Social Security?

Answer: People who were married for at least 10 years and who are currently unmarried may be eligible for divorced spousal benefits based on their ex’s work record. So if you divorce, you may be eligible for up to half of your first husband’s benefit at his full retirement age — assuming that this divorced spousal benefit is more than your own retirement benefit.

Applying before your own full retirement age means your divorced spousal benefit would be reduced. The benefit also would be subject to the earnings test, which reduces your benefit by $1 for every $2 you earn over a certain amount, which in 2024 is $22,320.

Q&A: How late-in-life divorce could affect Social Security benefits

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Dear Liz: I’m a CPA and getting conflicting answers from the Social Security office about a case I’m working on. Both clients are 70 and they’re considering legal separation or divorce. She took Social Security at 62 and receives about $1,500 a month before deductions. He started Social Security at 70 and receives about $4,600. How would her Social Security change at his death or their divorce, if she doesn’t remarry?

Answer: Based on the amounts involved, both parties are receiving their own retirement benefits and those aren’t affected by divorce, said William Reichenstein, a principal at Social Security Solutions, a claiming strategy site. (If the wife were receiving spousal benefits, those would continue after divorce as long as the marriage lasted at least 10 years and she did not remarry.)

If the husband dies and they haven’t divorced, the wife would be entitled to survivor benefits equal to his full monthly benefit amount ($4,600, plus any future cost of living increases). If they divorce and the marriage lasted at least 10 years, she also would be entitled to his full amount. Remarriage wouldn’t affect her divorced survivor benefit since she’s over 60, Reichenstein said.

Q&A: To qualify for Social Security survivor benefits

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Dear Liz: I am 85 and have been living (unmarried) with a man since about 1977. We have always filed our tax returns separately and now we both collect Social Security. I have been told that when one of us passes, the other cannot collect the deceased one’s benefits. We have been thinking about getting married and would like to know if there is a time regulation involved.

Answer: You generally must be married for at least nine months to qualify for Social Security survivor benefits. Keep in mind that the survivor will collect only the larger of a couple’s two checks; the smaller benefit goes away.

So marriage could benefit the lower earner financially, and give the higher earner peace of mind, knowing that their lower-earning partner will have access to the larger benefit. Marriage has a number of other financial and legal benefits, including the ability to make decisions for your spouse should they become incapacitated.

Marriage would end your ability to collect a divorced spousal benefit from a previous spouse, however. If either of you have been married before and the marriage lasted at least 10 years, investigate whether you might qualify for a larger benefit based on that partner’s work record. If the previous spouse has passed, you may qualify for a divorced survivor benefit. Unlike divorced spousal benefits, divorced survivor benefits don’t end at remarriage as long as you’re 60 or older when you remarry.

Q&A: Divorced spousal benefits

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Dear Liz: I never expected to be where I am financially. I work as an independent piano teacher and my present earnings are just enough to get by (which isn’t saying much in Southern California). I was married for 18 years and am now single, with no plans to remarry.

After I turn 66 next year, I intend to apply for Social Security benefits as a divorced spouse because my personal Social Security benefits would amount to just $875 a month and my ex is doing quite well (with earnings somewhere in the six-figure range). I anticipate the divorced spousal benefit will be greater than my own.

But I have a lot of questions. Will waiting until my former husband is 66 or 70 (he is 64) do anything to maximize my benefits? Will my Social Security be taxable? How much am I allowed to continue earning if I also receive Social Security?

Answer: Spousal and divorced spousal benefits can help lower earners get larger Social Security checks. Instead of just receiving their own retirement benefit, they can receive up to half of the higher earner’s benefits at the higher earner’s full retirement age. But divorced spousal benefits are different in some important ways from the spousal benefits available to married people.

If you were still married, you couldn’t get a spousal benefit unless he was already receiving his own.

Divorced spousal benefits are available if your marriage lasted at least 10 years and you aren’t currently married. If you meet those qualifications, you can apply for divorced spousal benefits as long as both you and your ex are at least 62 — he doesn’t need to have started his own benefit. Your divorced spousal benefit will be based on his “primary benefit amount,” or the benefit that would be available to him at his full retirement age (which is 66 years and two months, if he was born in 1955). It doesn’t matter if he starts early or late; that doesn’t affect what you as his ex would receive.

Spousal and divorced spousal benefits don’t receive delayed retirement credits, so there’s no advantage for you to delay beyond your own full retirement age (which is 66, if you were born in 1954) to start. Your benefit would have been reduced if you’d started early, though, so you were smart to wait.

Also, waiting until your full retirement age means you won’t be subjected to the earnings test that otherwise would reduce your checks by $1 for every $2 you earn over a certain amount ($17,640 in 2019).

Q&A: Sorting out the ex’s benefits

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Dear Liz: I am 68 and plan to delay starting Social Security until I’m 70. I was married for 15 years prior to an amicable divorce 15 years ago. My ex just turned 60 and remains unmarried but may possibly marry at some future time. Does she qualify for survivor benefits? If so, what can I do to help ensure that she can efficiently apply for that benefit? We have already reviewed her option to assume my benefit upon my demise, but our benefits are virtually at identical levels and so that option does not seem applicable.

Answer: You seem to have confused divorced survivor benefits with divorced spousal benefits. She may well be eligible for both, but the only way you can help her get survivor benefits is to die. It’s great that you two are still friends, but that may be taking friendship a little too far.

Your ex is too young to claim a divorced spousal benefit, which isn’t available until she turns 62. She wouldn’t be able to get the full amount, which is 50% of your benefit at your full retirement age, until she reaches her own full retirement age. If she was born in 1959, then her full retirement age is 66 years and 10 months.

Furthermore, she would get a divorced spousal benefit only if that’s larger than her own benefit. If your benefits are “virtually identical,” that’s not likely to be the case.

If you should keel over tomorrow, though, she would be eligible to receive a divorced survivor benefit and put off receiving her own. Survivor benefits are available starting at age 60, or age 50 if the survivor is disabled, or at any age if the survivor cares for the dead person’s child who is under 16. Your ex also could marry at 60 or older without losing her survivor benefit. People who receive divorced spousal benefits, on the other hand, lose that benefit if they remarry.

Q&A: About the ex’s Social Security

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Dear Liz: I’ve been divorced since 2004. My ex received half of all my pension funds and lives off that and his Social Security. I have not yet drawn Social Security, but I am retired. Am I eligible to receive part of his Social Security? How does that work?

Answer: Yes, if your marriage lasted at least 10 years. If you were born before Jan. 2, 1954, you also have the option of filing a “restricted application” for divorced spousal benefits while allowing your own benefit to continue growing.

Divorced spousal benefits, like regular spousal benefits, allow you to get an amount of up to half your ex’s benefit. The amount would be reduced if you start before your own full retirement age, which is currently 66 and rising to 67 for those born in 1960 and later. If you start at age 62, for example, you would get about one-third of his benefit, rather than half. (Your claim doesn’t take money away from him or any of his current or former spouses, in case you were concerned.)

Regular spousal benefits require that the primary worker has started his or her own retirement benefit. Divorced spousal benefits don’t have that requirement: You both just need to be at least 62. Also, the divorced benefit is based on the primary earner’s benefit at his or her full retirement age. With regular spousal benefits, the amount is typically based on what the primary earner actually receives, which could be less if the primary earner started benefits early.

If you were born on or after Jan. 2, 1954, you can’t file a restricted application. Instead, you’ll be deemed to be applying for both your own benefit and the divorced spousal benefit, and given the larger of the two amounts. You can’t switch to your own benefit later.

If your ex should die before you do, you also would be eligible for a divorced survivor benefit that is up to 100% of his. That has the unfortunate effect of making your ex worth more to you dead than alive.