Divorced Spouse Social Security Benefits: The Rules

If your marriage lasted at least 10 years and you haven't remarried, you can collect Social Security on your ex-spouse's record: up to 50% of their full benefit while they're alive, and up to 100% of their benefit as a survivor after they die. You don't need your ex's permission, and your claim doesn't reduce what they or their current spouse receive. If you've been divorced for at least two years, your ex doesn't even have to have filed yet, as long as they're 62 or older.

The rules below come from SSA's regulations, mainly 20 CFR 404.331 for a living ex and 20 CFR 404.336 for an ex who has died.

Claiming while your ex is alive

You qualify for a divorced-spouse benefit if all of these are true:

• You were married for at least 10 years before the divorce became final.
• You are unmarried now.
• You are 62 or older.
• The benefit from your own work record is smaller than the divorced-spouse amount.
• Your ex is receiving retirement or disability benefits, or you've been divorced at least two years and your ex is 62 or older and eligible.

Ten years means ten full years. A marriage that ended one month short doesn't count, so if a divorce is still being negotiated near that mark, the date the decree becomes final matters.

How much you can get

The maximum is 50% of your ex's primary insurance amount, the benefit they'd get at their full retirement age. You get the full 50% only if you claim at your own full retirement age, which is 67 for anyone born in 1960 or later. Claim earlier and it shrinks: at 62 it's 32.5% of your ex's full benefit.

Two rules surprise people:

• Waiting past full retirement age doesn't help. Spousal benefits don't earn delayed retirement credits, and your ex's credits for waiting don't raise your amount either.
• You don't get both checks. If you have your own work record, SSA pays your own benefit first and adds just enough to bring the total up to the divorced-spouse amount. If you were born after January 1, 1954, applying for one automatically counts as applying for the other.

For example, say your ex's full benefit is $2,400 a month. The most you could get at your full retirement age is $1,200. At 62 it would be $780. If your own full benefit were $700, SSA would pay that $700 plus $500 on your ex's record, for $1,200 total at full retirement age.

Your claim doesn't cost your ex anything

Benefits to a divorced spouse sit outside the family maximum, the cap on total benefits paid on one worker's record. Under 20 CFR 404.403, SSA figures everyone else's benefits on that record as if you weren't there. Your ex's check is unchanged, a current spouse's benefit is unchanged, and if your ex was married more than once for 10 years or more, each former spouse can collect without reducing the others.

If your ex dies

As a surviving divorced spouse, you can collect up to 100% of what your ex was receiving, including any increase they earned by delaying past full retirement age. You qualify if:

• the marriage lasted at least 10 years
• you are 60 or older, or 50 or older if you're disabled and the disability started within seven years of their death
• your own retirement benefit is smaller than the survivor amount

Claiming at 60 pays 71.5% of the full survivor amount. Unlike the spousal benefit, a survivor benefit can be taken separately from your own retirement benefit. You can take one first and switch to the other later if it grows larger, which can be worth real money. Our survivor benefits guide walks through those switching strategies.

If you're raising your ex's child. A surviving divorced parent caring for the deceased worker's child who is under 16 or disabled can collect a mother's or father's benefit at any age. The 10-year marriage rule doesn't apply to this benefit under 20 CFR 404.340, though the child must be yours as well as your ex's.

What remarriage does

• Remarrying generally ends a divorced-spouse benefit. The main exception is if you marry someone who receives Social Security as a spouse, widow or widower, parent or disabled adult child.
• If the later marriage ends, by death, divorce or annulment, you're unmarried again and can claim on your first ex's record.
• Survivor benefits have a gentler rule. Remarrying at 60 or later, or at 50 or later if you're disabled, doesn't block a survivor benefit on a former spouse's record.
• Your ex remarrying doesn't affect you.

If you had more than one marriage that lasted 10 years, you can claim on whichever record pays more, but you'll receive only one spousal or survivor benefit at a time.

If you have a government pension

Until recently, the Government Pension Offset cut or erased spousal and survivor benefits for many people with a pension from work not covered by Social Security, such as some teachers and police officers. The Social Security Fairness Act repealed it for benefits payable after December 2023. If you were turned down or reduced before, see our explainer on the WEP and GPO repeal.

How to apply

Benefits aren't automatic. Apply online at ssa.gov, by phone at 1-800-772-1213, or at a local office. You'll need proof of the marriage and the divorce, and your ex's Social Security number if you have it. Before you file, compare the divorced-spouse amount with your own benefit at different ages; our benefits calculator estimates your own side. For couples who are still married, our spousal-benefits guide covers the rules that differ.

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This article is general educational information, not legal or financial advice. Eligibility rules are summarized from SSA's regulations at 20 CFR Part 404; individual cases have exceptions, so confirm your situation with the Social Security Administration. SocialSecurityNews.com is not affiliated with the SSA.