Social Security Benefits After Divorce

Your marriage must have lasted for more than 10 years to entitle you to receive spousal benefits on your ex-spouse's record.

You can collect benefits on your ex's record even if he has remarried since your divorce. You cannot remarry and collect on his record, however—although you can collect on your new spouse's record. If you don't stay married to your second spouse, the same qualifying rules apply to collecting on his benefits. 

It will not affect your benefit or your ex's benefit even if remarries several times and all those spouses also collect benefits based on his record. 

You must be at least 62 years old to collect Social Security if your ex is still living. But there's a little bit of a catch here, and it might work in your favor. If you were born before January 2,1954, you can wait until your full retirement age then file a restricted application to claim only the spousal benefit. You can then switch to your own benefit amount when you reach age 70. This option is not available for those who were born on January 2, 1954 or after that date.

If you collect benefits based on your ex-spouse’s record, it will not reduce or affect his benefits in any way. Nor will it affect his new spouse's right to collect benefits on his work record if he remarries.

If your ex has not yet applied for his retirement benefits even though he's reached retirement age but he's qualified to do so, you can still apply for ex-spousal benefits. You have to meet the other eligibility criteria, however, and you must have been divorced for at least two years.

By contrast, your current spouse would have to have filed for Social Security for you to be eligible if you were still married. 

The benefit you're entitled to based on your ex's work record must be greater than the benefit you'd receive on your own work record. Otherwise, you're limited to collecting on your own. Assuming it is, you'll receive 50 percent of your ex's retirement amount, but you must have reached full retirement age. 

If your ex-spouse is deceased, the rules change slightly. If you remarry after age 60 and your ex-spouse is deceased, you might still be eligible for a benefit based on your ex's earnings record.

You can apply for benefits based on his record as early as age 60 if your ex is deceased. 

If your ex-spouse is deceased and you're caring for a disabled child or child under the age of 16 who is also his child and is receiving Social Security benefits based on his record, you can collect even if you weren't married for 10 years.