How to make sure you're
getting your fair share after a split
by Phil Moeller | February 26, 2019
When it comes to
Social Security, you may have several ways to collect the
biggest benefit possible, including basing it on your own work
record, using your spouse’s earnings history if you’re married, or claiming a
spousal benefit tied to your ex-husband or wife.
In this week’s
column, Phil Moeller, the author of Get What’s Yours for Medicare: Maximize Your Coverage, Minimize Your
Costs and co-author of the updated edition of How to Get What’s Yours: The Revised
Secrets to Maxing Out Your Social Security, walks a reader
through this tricky trade-off.
Got a question of
your own about Medicare or Social Security? Send it to askphil@considerable.com.
When can I claim my
ex-husband’s Social Security?
Dana F.: I read your column
on Considerable.com and hope you can answer my question. Currently I am 61
years old. I was married for more than two decades and am now divorced.
I had planned to wait
until age 70 to claim Social Security so that I would get the largest possible
benefit (about $2,600). Then I learned that I could claim through my
ex-husband, who was six years older than me, worked longer, and earned much
more than I did.
Here’s my question:
Do I have to wait until age 70 in order to claim my ex-husband’s Social
Security? Or could I file early, at either 62 or my full retirement age (66.5),
and still get his full benefit? I don’t know what it will be but he paid in
more than I ever did so I’m pretty sure it will be higher than $2,600.
Phil Moeller: Your question
highlights an important claiming decision that many divorced women face, so
let’s walk through it carefully. A mine field can be easier to navigate than
Social Security’s rules!
To qualify for a
divorced spousal benefit from Social Security, a woman (or man, for that
matter) must have been married for at least 10 years prior to getting divorced.
You must be 62—the earliest age that non-disabled folks can file for
benefits. You also must be single or, if you have remarried, you
must have done so after turning 60.
Lastly, your
ex-spouse must already have filed for his or her own Social Security retirement
benefit or, if he hasn’t yet filed, he needs to be at least 62 and the couple
needs to have been divorced for at least two years. (By now, you can see that
my comment about navigating a mine field was no exaggeration!)
Your question highlights an important
claiming decision that many divorced women face.
It’s not clear from
your note whether your ex-husband has filed for Social Security and whether
you’ve been divorced for more than two years. Assuming either of these
conditions has been met, here is how you should decide what to do.
In the “good old
days,” it was possible to file for one kind of Social Security benefit while
suspending another one until it had reached its maximum level. This “file and
suspend” strategy was outlawed by Congress in late 2015.
Some folks were
grandfathered under the law and could still use this strategy. But the age
cutoff to qualify under those provisions was a birth date on or before Jan. 2,
1954. You are too young to qualify, making this one of the few situations in
which it pays to be older!
What this means is
that if you file for either an ex-spousal or your own retirement benefit, you
will be “deemed” under Social Security rules to be filing for both benefits.
Social Security will compare the two benefits and approve a payment equal to
whichever is greater.
Your ex-spousal
benefit will be a maximum of half of what your ex-husband’s Social Security
benefit would have been at his own full retirement
age (FRA). This is true regardless of when he actually filed for
Social Security or even if he has not yet filed. It will not reach this maximum
unless you wait until your own full retirement age of 66 and a half to
file.
Social
Security staffers are often overwhelmed by customer demand, so you need to be
patient and persistent.
While your ex-spouse
may have earned a lot more money than you have, it’s not clear that half of his
FRA benefit would be more than your own age-70 retirement benefit.
If you don’t know
what your ex-husband’s benefit entitlements look like, you should contact Social Security to get
this information. Social Security staffers are often overwhelmed by customer
demand, so you need to be patient and persistent.
Wondering how much
you might receive in Social Security?
Use our simple
calculator to see your projected monthly benefits
If it turns out that
your ex-spousal benefit at 66 and a half is greater than your own retirement
benefit at 70, then you should wait until 66 and a half to file for the ex-spousal
benefit. Filing sooner would result in potentially large benefit reductions
that you should avoid.
If your age
70-benefit is noticeably higher than your FRA ex-spousal benefit, then you
should wait until 70 to file for your own retirement benefit.
There is a third
possibility. If your age-70 benefit is only slightly more than your FRA
ex-spousal benefit, you might want to consider filing for the ex-spousal
benefit when you’re 66 and a half. This would provide you with ex-spousal
benefits for three and a half years before you turn 70, and this might be your
most more attractive claiming strategy.
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