INmail: Social Security rules for divorced spouses

Jill: Can a divorced person still collect Social Security benefits on an ex’s earnings record? I thought there was a rule change that prevented this.

MBF: No, an eligible divorced spouse can still collect Social Security benefits on an ex’s earnings record if those spousal benefits are larger than her own retirement benefit.

To collect Social Security benefits based on a former spouse’s earnings record, a divorced spouse must have been married to that spouse for 10 years or more; must be at least 62 years old; and cannot currently be married.

What did change is the ability of a spouse or ex-spouse to claim only spousal benefits at full retirement age for up to four years, while allowing one’s own retirement benefit to continue to grow up to age 70. That claiming strategy, known as filing “a restricted claim for spousal benefits”, is available only to people who were born on or before Jan. 1, 1954.

People born after that date do not get to choose which benefit to claim. Whenever they file for Social Security, they are “deemed to file for all available benefits”. That means they would be paid the higher of the two benefits — whether on their own earnings record or as a spouse or eligible ex-spouse — based on their age at the time they claim.

For example, if an eligible divorced spouse files for Social Security at full retirement age and is entitled to $1,000 per month on her own earnings record and $1,200 as a spouse on her ex-husband’s record, she would receive the larger amount — $1,200 per month — which would be comprised of $1,000 of her own benefit and $200 in excess spousal benefits.

If, however, her own benefit was worth $1,200 per month compared to spousal benefit of $1,000 per month, she would receive only her own benefit.

An eligible ex-spouse who has been divorced for at least two years may be eligible for benefits on an ex’s earnings record — if larger than her own — even if the ex has not yet claimed Social Security. In addition, a surviving ex-spouse can collect survivor benefits on a deceased ex-spouse even while married to someone else as long as she waited until age 60 or later to remarry.

Mary Beth Franklin, a certified financial planner, is a contributing editor for InvestmentNews.