Remarriage at any time makes the widow potentially eligible for spouse benefits on her new husband's work record, so marriage is unlikely to leave a woman ineligible for Social Security. However, spouse benefits may be less generous than widow benefits for two reasons.
In addition, to be eligible for spouse's benefits, you must be one of the following: 62 years of age or older. Any age if you have a child who is younger than 16 in your care or has a disability and is entitled to benefits on your spouse's record.
Social Security covers both spouses, regardless of whether one or both brought home a paycheck over the years.
For a spouse who is not entitled to benefits on his or her own earnings record, this reduction factor is applied to the base spousal benefit, which is 50 percent of the worker's primary insurance amount.
Spouses and ex-spouses
Payments start at 71.5% of your spouse's benefit and increase the longer you wait to apply. For example, you might get: Over 75% at age 61.
Once you turn 62, you typically qualify for a spouse's Social Security benefit. The spouse's Social Security benefit amount is up to one-half the amount that the wage-earning spouse is eligible to receive at full retirement age.
If the spouses divorced, the marriage must have lasted 10 years. Each survivor benefit can be up to 100% of your benefit. The amount may be reduced if the women start benefits before their own full retirement age, but they don't have to share — the amount isn't reduced because you've had more than one spouse.
A wife with no work record or low benefit entitlement on her own work record is eligible for between one-third and one-half of her spouse's Social Security benefit.
In some states, such as California, in a marriage of ten years or longer, the court retains the right to order that alimony is paid to the lesser-earning spouse for as long as she needs it if the other spouse has the ability to pay.
If your spouse dies, do you get both Social Security benefits? You cannot claim your deceased spouse's benefits in addition to your own retirement benefits. Social Security only will pay one—survivor or retirement. If you qualify for both survivor and retirement benefits, you will receive whichever amount is higher.
The first exception, which can be deemed as the Social Security spousal benefits loophole, works where an individual who remarries at 60 or later may still be entitled to Social Security survivors' benefits if the second marriage ends before the death of the first spouse.
Have you heard about the Social Security $16,728 yearly bonus? There's really no “bonus” that retirees can collect. The Social Security Administration (SSA) uses a specific formula based on your lifetime earnings to determine your benefit amount.
The higher earner is the spouse with the larger primary insurance amounts (PIA). When you're deciding who will collect first and who should wait, consider having the lower earner collect first and having the higher earner wait.
This is good news when former spouses are not on good terms. Your ex cannot “block” you from drawing your spousal benefit. In fact, he probably won't even know if you are drawing off him unless he calls SSA to ask.
The Social Security 5-year rule refers specifically to disability benefits. It requires that you must have worked five out of the last ten years immediately before your disability onset to qualify for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI).
You may qualify for benefits on your spouse's Social Security earnings record if: You are 62 or older. Or, you are younger but caring for a child under 16 or a child with disabilities who is under 19. Your spouse is elgible for retirement benefits (62 or older)
you're eligible for some of your ex's Social Security
wives and widows. That means most divorced women collect their own Social Security while the ex is alive, but can apply for higher widow's rates when he dies.
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.
Even if your ex-spouse remarries, you are still eligible for a spousal or survivor benefit. Social Security will pay benefits to your ex- spouse, their current spouse and you, and no one's benefit will be reduced.
When someone who was married more than once dies, who is eligible for their Social Security benefits? Anyone who was married to a Social Security beneficiary can potentially receive survivor benefits on the death of that person.
A spouse who has never worked in paid jobs or has not worked to earn sufficient credits to be eligible for his/her own retired worker benefits can receive a spousal benefit that is 50 percent of the eligible worker's full benefit.
Surviving spouse, at full retirement age or older, generally gets 100% of the worker's basic benefit amount. Surviving spouse, age 60 or older, but under full retirement age, gets between 71% and 99% of the worker's basic benefit amount.