More than 4 in 10 Americans nearing retirement age do not know that divorced people can collect Social Security benefits based on their ex-spouse’s earnings, according the 2024 edition of insurance and financial firm MassMutual's annual survey on Social Security knowledge. Those numbers don’t surprise Natalie Colley.
“It’s just become abundantly clear that Social Security is not something that people know, and it should be,” says Colley, a certified divorce financial analyst and lead adviser at Francis Financial, a New York firm that specializes in helping women deal with the financial fallout from a marital split.
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“Many women who come to our office don’t even realize that they are eligible for their ex-spouse’s benefit,” she says. “Even those who do are really concerned that their ex-spouse will be very angry about it, because they’re under the false assumption that their ex-spouse will be notified when they file or that their ex-spouse’s benefit will somehow be reduced.”
If you are age 62 or older and were married to your ex for at least 10 years, you may be able to collect monthly payments equivalent to about one-third to one-half of your former spouse’s Social Security benefit, as calculated from their lifetime earnings history. (The equation is different if your ex is deceased, but we’ll get to that.)
You’ll get a divorced-spouse benefit only if it exceeds your own retirement benefit, determined by your own earnings record. If you qualify for two types of benefit, the Social Security Administration (SSA) doesn’t combine them but pays the higher amount.
Use AARP's Social Security Calculator to find out when to apply and how much you'll get.
That means ex-spouse benefits come into play if one partner was a much bigger earner than the other. And they can be an important part of retirement planning.
“With the rise of ‘gray divorces,’ pension plans, 401(k) plans and spousal benefits from Social Security all need to be reviewed and reevaluated, as money is being left on the table for some,” says David Freitag, a financial planning consultant with MassMutual.
The benefit rules are strictly gender-neutral — at least they have been since 1983, when Congress codified equal Social Security treatment of ex-husbands and ex-wives. (The rules are also applicable to same-sex couples who marry and divorce as a result of the Supreme Court’s 2015 Obergefell decision recognizing marriage equality.)
In practice, they primarily affect women, who earn less than men on average and are more likely to have spent time as stay-at-home parents or caregivers for older relatives. According to the most recent SSA data, women make up 95 percent of the more than 657,000 people receiving spousal or survivor benefits on the basis of a marriage that ended.
“The people who are reaching Social Security eligibility age right now are still more of a generation where the likelihood was even higher that those women would drop out of the workforce to take care of children,” Colley says. “You’d have a single-earning household. We’re still seeing it.”
Here are answers to some key questions about Social Security benefits for divorced people.
Social Security operates with a philosophy that a divorced person may deserve a personal benefit, having been the long-term partner and helpmate of a member of the workforce. “It is an extension of the same benefit that married couples enjoy,” Freitag says.
“It is a way of providing equity and nondiscrimination,” he adds. “Divorced partners should not be punished and have all of their spousal and survivor benefits nullified just because a long-term marriage did not last. They had a functioning family unit for 10 years or longer.”
In fact, divorced-spouse benefits are determined using the same percentage scale as those for current spouses. A key difference is that a current spouse need only have been married for a year to qualify. In cases of divorce, Freitag says, “the 10-year rule helps to keep ‘convenience’ weddings for monetary gain separate from ‘real’ relationships that did not work out.”
In most cases, you must meet all these criteria to be eligible for divorced-spouse benefits.
Except in very limited circumstances, you lose eligibility for ex-spouse benefits on the earnings record of a living former mate if you marry again. If the later marriage ends due to divorce, death or annulment, you may again qualify for benefits, based on either marriage.
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If your ex is deceased, you may be eligible for survivor benefits on their record even if you have remarried (see below).
That doesn’t matter. Your former spouse’s marital status has no bearing on your eligibility for divorced-spouse benefits.
Restaurants 10% off dine-in or curbside carryout orders placed by phone See more Restaurants offers >You can apply for divorced-spouse benefits online, by phone (800-772-1213) or in person at your local Social Security office. If you choose the latter, you may want to call ahead of time to schedule an appointment.
You will need to provide your birth certificate or other proof of birth; your marriage certificate and divorce decree; proof of U.S. citizenship or legal residency; and copies of W-2s or self-employment tax returns. Other than the tax records, these must be the original documents; Social Security will return them to you.
You’ll be asked for other details about your work and family history and about the former marriage, including your ex-spouse’s Social Security number. If you don’t know it, you may be asked for information the SSA can use to look it up, such as your ex’s date and place of birth and the names of their parents.
Spouses going through a divorce “need to be making sure that they keep crucial documentation to make that application process easier,” Colley says — especially if they are still many years away from the age for claiming benefits.
“It’s just part of a going-through-divorce checklist,” she says. “Get it now while you’re still communicating, because you may need it in the future and it’s going to make your life a whole lot easier.”
Spouses of workers with disabilities
Total: 90,972 (average benefit: $408/month)
Divorced: 10,786 (average benefit: $433/month)
Surviving spouses (eligible at age 60)
Total: 3,516,872 (average benefit: $1,705/month)
Divorced: 426,477 (average benefit: $1,795/month)
Surviving spouses with disabilities (eligible at age 50)
Total: 211,301 (average benefit: $893/month)
Divorced: 31,848 (average benefit: $941/month)
Surviving spouses caring for young or disabled children (eligible at any age)
Total: 111,784 (average benefit: $1,232/month )
Divorced: 8,951 (average benefit: $1,247/month)
Source: Social Security Administration, Annual Statistical Supplement, 2023
Benefits for a divorced spouse are calculated the same way as those for a current spouse. At 62, the minimum claiming age, you can collect 32.5 percent of your ex-spouse’s full benefit amount. The percentage goes up incrementally for each month you wait, maxing out at 50 percent if you file for benefits at your full retirement age (FRA), which is 67 for people born in 1960 and after.
No. Your benefit does not come out of your ex-spouse’s payment. They will collect the retirement or disability benefit they’re entitled to receive, based on their own work and earnings history.
The same is true for any benefits paid to your ex’s current spouse, or to any other former spouses. Social Security can pay multiple benefits on a single worker’s earnings record. Any current or former spouse who meets the qualifications for benefits can receive them.
Unlike a current spouse, a divorced person can get benefits if their ex is eligible for retirement benefits but has not yet claimed them.
However, if your ex hasn’t claimed, there’s a twist to the eligibility rules: In addition to the age and marital criteria noted above, you must have been divorced for at least two years. That waiting period does not apply if your ex is already collecting Social Security.
No. Colley says many people going through divorce worry that Social Security “is just going to be another asset, another point of negotiation, another area that their ex is going to be very angry about.” But your ex cannot prevent you from applying for or, if you qualify, receiving benefits on their record.
Even if a soon-to-be ex wants you to relinquish benefit rights as part of the divorce agreement, such clauses “are worthless and are never enforced,” according to the SSA.
No. The SSA will not notify your former spouse if you apply for benefits on their record. If your ex asks, the agency can tell them whether you or anyone else is drawing a benefit on their record, and the full benefit amount, but it will not reveal personal information, such as your whereabouts.
