Social Security may be your largest or one of your largest assets. How you manage it, by deciding which benefits to collect and when, can make an absolutely huge difference to your lifetime benefits. And those with the highest past covered earnings have the most to gain from maximizing their Social Security.
I've been answering questions and writing columns about Social Security each week for the past two years on PBS NEWSHOUR's website. The editors at Forbes asked me to post a Q&A each day from those columns. To see all my columns, please go to my software company's site, www.maximizemysocialsecurity.com, and click More Press below the WSJ quote.
Today's question asks if it's still possible to collect a divorced spousal benefit even if the ex is completely uncooperative. The answer reviews the necessary conditions for collecting a divorced spousal benefit, considers a side issue about non-covered employment, and notes that exes lack of power to restrict claims on their records.
Question: I am divorced and am drawing a very small Social Security check. But I also get $1,064 from work in the federal system and $1,367 from the Marine reserve. Can I change my Social Security to my ex’s Social Security, which will be more than I get? We don’t talk, though. Can I get her Social Security earnings without her consent? She does not want me to get anything. She also gets $450 each month from my divorce settlement.
Answer: Since you have filed for your own retirement benefit already, you can only collect based on your ex’s work record if A) you were married for at least 10 years, B) half of her full retirement benefit exceeds 100 percent of your own full retirement benefit, C) she is 62 or over, and D) she has either already filed for her retirement benefit or you have been divorced for two or more years. Also, unless you paid Social Security taxes on your wages from the government, your federal pension may reduce or eliminate any divorced spousal benefits for which you might otherwise qualify.
What she does or doesn’t want you to get makes no difference. Exes can’t control what their exes collect on their work records. So I’d make sure Social Security knows you have an ex and conditions A through D are met, if that’s indeed the case.
