How to Qualify for an Ex-Spouse’s Social Security Benefits
Aside from being 62 years old and unmarried, and being divorced from someone entitled to get Social Security retirement or disability benefits, you must meet these qualifications to receive ex-spouse benefits:
- You must have been married to your ex-spouse for at least 10 years.
- If you’ve married someone else since your divorce, you can’t collect benefits based on your former spouse’s earnings record unless your later marriage ended in annulment, divorce or death.
- If you’re entitled to benefits based on your own earnings history, your benefit amount must be less than you would have gotten based on your ex-spouse’s work. So, you can receive the higher of the two benefit amounts, but you can’t tap into both benefit categories.
- You can apply for benefits based on your ex-spouse’s earnings record even if they’re not retired yet, but only if you ended your marriage at least two years before submitting your application.
To find out whether you qualify for benefits, use the Social Security Administration’s Benefit Eligibility Screening Tool. If you have your ex-spouse’s Social Security number, you can look up the former spouse’s benefits information on the Social Security website. If you don’t have that number, you can ask your ex-spouse for it—if you’re still on speaking terms, that is.
What Happens if There’s Another Ex-Spouse?
If there’s more than one ex-spouse in the picture, both you and any other former spouse might qualify for benefits based on the earnings record of the mutual ex-spouse.
It isn’t a matter of who gets there first; you and all former spouses are entitled to the individual’s Social Security regardless of who has or hasn’t applied for them—or when the benefits were applied for.
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