Social Security USA: requirements for divorced people
The SSA sends Social Security benefits each month. We share the requirements that apply so that divorced people can receive them.
Each month, the Social Security Administration (SSA) sends money to retired workers, people eligible for Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and others, like recipients of disability or survivor payments, including divorcees.
According to the SSA, individuals who have reached age 62, are unmarried, and divorced from someone entitled to Social Security retirement or disability benefits, may be eligible for benefits based on their history.
Social Security USA: requirements for divorced people
The SSA notes that to be eligible, a person must have been married to their former spouse for ten years or more. However, if a person is entitled to benefits of their own, the amount of their benefit must be less than what they would receive from their ex-spouse. SSA will pay the greater of the two benefits you are eligible for, but not both.
A former spouse can receive benefits if:
- Your marriage lasted ten years or more; and if
- you are not married currently; and if
- You are 62 or older; and if
- The benefit you are entitled to receive based on your own work is less than the benefit you would receive based on your work; and if
- You are entitled to Social Security retirement or disability benefits.
It is important to note that if the divorced person seeking benefits continues to work while receiving benefits, the same income limits apply to them as apply to their ex-spouse.
Do the benefits apply if the divorced person remarries?
If a person looking to claim their former spouse’s benefits remarried, they will not be able to collect benefits unless the subsequent marriage is terminated by annulment, divorce, or death.
How to apply for benefits?
The SSA notes that a claim can be filed online using the Social Security Retirement/Medicare Application to apply for retirement, spousal, divorced spouse, or Medicare benefits.