JOE: I had a prospect with a strange response from the Social Security office. She was married to a doctor for 22 years before they were divorced. Four years later, she married her second husband for 12 years before divorcing. Her first ex-husband has since died. Social Security told her that since she remarried so quickly, she would no longer be eligible for divorced widow benefits. Is this true? Her Social Security benefit is only $1,100 a month and her first husband’s benefit would be over $3,000.
MBF: No, that answer is completely false! Your prospective client is currently single following her second divorce and as such, she is eligible to collect survivor benefits on her late ex-husband’s earnings record (even if he is married to someone else at the time). That means she could switch from her own retirement benefit of $1,100 per month to her ex-husband’s larger survivor benefit.
To be eligible for survivor benefits as an ex-spouse, the couple must have been married at least 10 years before divorcing. In general, the surviving ex-spouse must be single to collect survivor benefits or must have waited until age 60 or later to remarry. In the latter case, a remarried ex-spouse can collect survivor benefits on a deceased ex-spouse even if married to someone else. Benefits paid to a surviving divorced spouse won’t affect the benefit amount for other survivors getting benefits on the worker’s record.
Survivor benefits are worth 100% of what the deceased worker was collecting or was entitled to collect if he died before claiming Social Security. That assumes the surviving spouse or surviving ex-spouse is at least full retirement age.
Survivor benefits are available as early as age 60 (or age 50 in the case of disabled spouse/ex-spouse) but benefits are permanently reduced if claimed before full retirement age. For more information, see www.ssa.gov/benefits/survivors/ifyou.html#h3
Mary Beth Franklin, a certified financial planner, is a contributing editor for InvestmentNews.
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