Divorced Widow(er) Benefits

Q: What is the difference between VA survivor benefit and social security widow’s benefits? Can I collect both? My full retirement age is 67. Can I retire at 65 using my late ex husband's social security? Will I be penalized?

A: My expertise is limited to Social Security benefits, so I can't answer any questions about VA benefits. What I can tell you is that if you receive VA benefits, it would have no adverse effect on any type of Social Security benefits for which you are eligible.

You don't mention whether or not you're eligible for your own Social Security benefits, so I don't know what options you may have. In any case, though, if you qualify for Social Security survivor benefits and if you start drawing them prior to your full retirement age (FRA) your benefit rate will be reduced for age. However, if your ex-spouse collected reduced Social Security retirement benefits prior to his death then your maximum potential survivor rate would be reached at some point prior to when you reach your FRA. In that case there would be no real penalty for claiming your survivor benefits early.

You may want to strongly consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to fully analyze the options available to you in order to determine your best strategy for maximizing your benefits.

Q: I'm 65 and have been disabled for years receiving SSI and social security early retirement when I turned 62 (I missed the filing 'date of last insured" for SSDI) . I was self-employed most of my life and have a very low social security benefit. Was married over 30 years divorced for 2 in July and was planning on filing for spousal benefits as my (ex)wife worked her whole life, but she just died a month before her 62nd birthday.

??? Is her social security not available to me now???

I understand that she may have been getting Medicare, she had ALS. (I didn't know she was sick.)

Is this too complicated of a situation to get an answer?

A: No. I'm assuming that you're unmarried now, and if so It sounds like you could qualify for surviving divorced spousal benefits provided that your ex-wife's benefit rate was higher than your Social Security retirement benefit rate. I have no way of knowing how your benefit rate compares to your ex-wife's rate, so you'll need to contact Social Security to find out if you're eligible for additional benefits.

Q: My ex husband died a few months ago. We were married for fifteen years. He was deported and never collected his social security. I briefly remarried for three years. Do I qualify for spousal benefits?

A: If you're unmarried now or if your current marriage occurred after you reached age 60, then it sounds like you could potentially qualify for survivor benefits as early as age 60, or 50 if you're disabled. Your ex's deportation wouldn't affect your potential eligibility, assuming he was insured for Social Security benefits.

There isn't enough information in your question for me to be able to give you any advice on your best filing strategy, so you may want to strongly consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to fully analyze the options available to you in order to determine your best strategy for maximizing your benefits.

Q: Married for 15 years. Divorced in 2004. Ex-husband died in 2009 at age 54 without ever claiming benefits. Ex would have reached FRA in February 2022 (66, 2 months). I am retired. I'm thinking of applying for survivors benefits in February/March 2022. I will be 61, 5 months in February 2022 and 61, 6 months in March 2022. My understanding: My survivor benefit will be based on ex-husband's full PIA plus any COLAs with a reduction (21.8% if collected in February 2022 and 21.4% in March 2022). In other words, I will receive 78.2% of ex's full PIA plus COLAs in February 2022 and 78.6% of ex's full PIA plus COLAs in March 2022. Is this correct? My FRA for survivor's benefits is 66, 8 months.

My FRA is 67. I believe my ex's full PIA and my own full PIA are similar so I plan on switching to my own benefit at 70 to earn delayed retirement credits. Does this make sense?

Also, is the fee for your software an annual charge or once and done?

Thanks for your help.

A: I calculate that you'd receive a bit below 78% of your ex-husband's primary insurance amount (PIA) if you start drawing at age 61 and 5 or 6 months. But regardless of the exact rate, if you're retired it sounds like you should do one of two things. Either a) file for reduced survivor benefits NOW and then switch to your own record at age 70, or b) file for reduced retirement benefits on your own record at age 62 and then file for unreduced survivor benefits at full retirement age (FRA). If you'll be switching to a higher benefit rate on your own account at age 70, you'd want to start drawing your survivor benefits ASAP. Even though your monthly benefit rate would be a bit lower if you start drawing now vs. February or March 2022, by the time you reach age 70 you'd have received more total benefits by starting to draw now instead of waiting.

Normally, you would want to start out drawing the lower benefit first and then switch to the higher benefit when it reaches its highest potential rate. Our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) could help sort all of this out for you so that you can determine the best strategy for maximizing your benefits. Our software subscriptions extend for a one-year period. You must renew your subscription if you wish to continue your subscription when it expires.

Q: I was married to my first husband for 10 years before we divorce. I remarried and divorce my second husband. Can I collect Social Security from my first husband who is now deceased.

A: Yes, at least potentially. A subsequent marriage wouldn't bar you from qualifying for survivor benefits on the record of your previous spouse as long as the subsequent marriage has ended in death or divorce. To actually qualify for benefits on your first husband's record, though, In addition to having been married to him for at least 10 years you'd also need to be at least age 60 or at least age 50 and disabled. And, if you're already drawing your own benefits you could only receive survivor benefits if the survivor benefit rate is higher than your own benefit rate (https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/handbook/handbook.04/handbook-0403.html).

Q: My ex passed. I plan on retiring at age 65 instead of 66 ½. What percentage of survivors benefit would I receive?

A: The exact percentage reduction for starting surviving divorced spousal benefits early varies depending on your year of birth. If your full retirement age (FRA) is 66 1/2 and if you start drawing those benefits 18 months early, the applicable reduction would amount to roughly 7%. Or, in other words, your benefit rate would likely amount to roughly 93% of your unreduced rate.

It sounds like your best strategy for claiming benefits would likely be one of the following:

1) File for reduced survivor benefits as soon as your earnings will permit at least some benefits to be paid, then switch to your own record at age 70; or,

2) File for reduced retirement benefits on your own record as soon as your earnings permit at least some benefits to be paid, then file for unreduced survivor benefits at your full retirement age (FRA).

Normally, you would want to start out drawing the lower benefit first and then switch to the higher benefit when it reaches its highest potential rate. Our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) could help sort all of this out for you so that you can determine the best strategy for maximizing your benefits.

Q: I’m a retired school teacher with a $2,700 monthly state pension. At my full retirement SSA age of 66, I requested a spousal benefit from my ex-husband's account. I qualified for one but was told it was $0 because of GPO.

Question. When my ex husband dies will I qualify for 100% of his PIA? With the 100% instead of 50%, the GPO should result in a benefit greater than $0.

Will I need to request the benefit or will it be paid automatically?

A: If your ex-husband dies you could potentially qualify for an unreduced survivor benefit equal to the amount he was receiving when he died, plus any subsequent cost of living increases. If that amounts to more than 2/3rds of the gross amount of your teacher's pension then you should be able to collect at least some survivor benefits.

If you've already applied for and been approved for divorced spousal benefits, even if your benefit rate is reduced to zero due to the Government Pension Offset (GPO) provision, then you shouldn't need to reapply in order to be paid any survivor benefits that you qualify for in the event of your ex's death. However, Social Security will likely need to verify the amount of your teacher's pension so that they can calculate the correct benefit amount before starting your payments. So, if you become aware that your ex-spouse has died you should contact Social Security to see what evidence they need.

Q: I started collecting my social security benefits at age 62. I was divorced and collected off my earning credits. My ex spouse just died, we had been married 18 years, and I’m trying to figure out how much more I will collect every month. Will I receive the full amount he was getting?

A: The exact amount that you could potentially be paid as a surviving divorced spouse depends on several different factors, such as your current age, whether or not your ex was drawing his benefits, and your ex's age at the time of his death. You couldn't be paid both your own benefit rate and your ex's full benefit rate. Assuming that you're now at least full retirement age (FRA) and if your ex was drawing his benefits, you could potentially be paid up to the higher of a) your benefit rate, b) your ex's benefit rate, or c) 82.5% of your ex's primary insurance amount (PIA). A person's PIA is equal to their Social Security retirement benefit rate if they start drawing their benefits at full retirement age (FRA).

If your ex wasn't yet drawing his benefits and if he died prior to FRA, you could be paid up to the higher of your own benefit rate or your ex's PIA. Or, if your ex wasn't drawing his benefits and if he died after reaching FRA, you could be paid up to the higher of your own benefit rate or the amount that your ex would have been eligible to collect if he'd started drawing benefits effective within the month of his death.

I should also mention that in order to potentially qualify for divorced survivor benefits you must either be currently unmarried, or if you're currently married your present marriage must have begun on or after the day you reached age 60. If you do qualify for survivor benefits and if you start drawing them prior to your FRA, your benefit rate would be reduced for age.

Q: I have printed out the SSA-2-BK form. I am now 83 years old and my first husband to whom I was married for 30 years has died. I am still married to my second husband. I was 60 when we married. My understanding is that I can receive Soc Sec benefits off of my first husband's name now and receive more than my approximately 500.00 a month benefit.

Is the SSA-2-BK the correct form. I have my divorce papers, but do not have my first marriage certificate. He kept it and it cannot be found by my children . Any information as to what I should do would be appreciated. Thank you,

A: No, an SSA-2 would not be the correct application form to use to claim survivor benefits on the record of an ex-spouse. The actual correct form would be an SSA-10, but Social Security no longer uses paper applications. Technically you could print out an SSA-10 to complete and then mail it to a Social Security office, but I don't think that's your best option. What I would recommend instead is to call Social Security to initiate filing an application by phone.

Q: My 3rd husband died 3 April 2021. I'm collecting social security from my dead 4th husband. Can I get my second husband social security? We were married over 10 years.

A: I'm sorry for your loss. You can't get an ex-spouse's actual benefits, but you can potentially collect survivor or auxiliary benefits on their account if you meet all of the requirements (https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/handbook/handbook.04/handbook-0403.html). However, you can't collect benefits on the record of more than one spouse or ex-spouse at the same time.

If you've already reached your full retirement age (FRA), then you would want to apply for benefits on the record of whichever of your spouses would provide you with the highest monthly benefit rate. Only Social Security could provide you with that type of information, so you'll need to contact them to determine your best option.