Many Divorced Americans May Be Missing Out on Thousands of Dollars in Social Security Payments – How to Claim Them?
Members of the family, including ex-spouses, may be eligible to receive Social Security retirement benefits from their former partner.
Your family can only get a certain amount of money from the Social Security Administration (SSA), according to the organization.
Those Social Security benefits you get for family members, including ex-spouses, will not be deducted from your retirement income.
Furthermore, the benefits handed out to a divorced spouse will have no effect on the number of payments your family may be eligible for in the future.
The sum fluctuates depending on the amount of your benefit and the number of qualifying members who have been registered. In this case, your spouse, ex-spouse, or children may be included.
Regardless of whether or not you remarry, your ex-spouse will continue to be eligible for benefits if they meet eligibility standards.
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According to the Social Security Administration, the total amount you and your family can get ranges between 150 percent and 180 percent of your full retirement payment.
Your ex-spouse is entitled to certain benefits.
If you are divorced, your ex-spouse may be eligible for benefits based on your previous employment history.
This will apply even if you have remarried since your divorce.
There are specific rules that must be followed in order for an ex-spouse to obtain benefits:
- Your marriage has been together for at least ten years.
- Your ex-spouse is not married at this time.
- Your ex-spouse has reached the age of 62 or older.
The benefit that your ex-spouse is entitled to get as a result of their own work is smaller than the advantage that they would receive as a result of your labor, as explained above.
In addition, you must be eligible for Social Security retirement or disability payments in order to qualify.
According to the Social Security Administration, by 2050, women would account for over 80 percent of divorced spousal recipients who are 62 or older.
What amount will your ex-spouse be entitled to?
In the event that you have not applied for retirement benefits but are eligible for them, your ex-spouse may be able to receive payments on your behalf if you have been divorced for a period of at least two consecutive years.
If your ex-spouse is entitled to retirement benefits based on their own record, the Social Security Administration (SSA) will pay the sum due to them first.
If the benefit on your record is larger than the benefit on your record, your ex-spouse will get an additional amount on your record to bring the total amount of benefits on your record to a higher level.
The benefit of the divorced spouse can be delayed until a later date if your ex-spouse is born before January 2, 1954, and has already reached full retirement age.
If your ex-spouse was born before January 2, 1954, and has already reached full retirement age, they can choose to receive only the divorced spouse’s benefit and delay receiving their own retirement benefit until a later date.
If your ex-spouse was born on or after January 2, 1954, you will no longer be able to accept only one benefit at full retirement age if their birthday is on or after that date.
If your ex-spouse files for one retirement or spousal benefit, they will be considered to have filed for all of the benefits available to them.
If your ex-spouse is employed
If your ex-spouse continues to work while receiving benefits, they are subject to the same earnings limits that you are.
If your ex-spouse is eligible for benefits this year and is also employed, you can use the Social Security Administration’s retirement earnings test calculator to determine how those wages will affect those benefit payments in the future.
Depending on whether or if your ex-spouse will also earn a pension based on labor not covered by Social Security, such as government work, the amount of their Social Security payment on record may be reduced or eliminated.
In no way does the amount of benefits received by your divorced spouse have an impact on the number of benefits you or your current spouse may receive.
We explore how more than $2.4 billion in unclaimed retirement savings ended up in the wrong hands.
In addition, we’ll go through when Social Security benefits begin and end.
