Ask the Expert: Am I eligible for my ex-spouse’s FRA benefits?

I’m divorced from my husband of 30 years. I haven’t remarried. He took his Social Security benefit at age 62. I took mine at 70. If he should predecease me, would I be eligible for the benefit that he’d have received if he’d taken Social Security at age 70?

No. Your ex took Social Security at 62, receiving a permanently reduced benefit. You may qualify for a survivor benefit based on his record, but it won’t include extra credits for postponing Social Security until 70.

And even if eligible, you can only collect a survivor benefit if it’s bigger than the one you earned yourself.

As a divorced person, one can qualify for a survivor benefit based on a deceased ex-spouse’s record if 1) your marriage lasted at least 10 years, 2) you haven’t remarried and 3) you’re at least 60 years old.

In general, the maximum survivor benefit for a spouse or qualifying former spouse is 100% of what the deceased was collecting (or was eligible to collect) when he died. But if he was collecting a reduced benefit, the survivor gets the greater of two amounts: the reduced benefit he was receiving when he died, or 82.5% of the amount he would have been collecting if he had taken his benefit at his full retirement age (FRA).

Let’s say his FRA was 67, and his FRA benefit would have been $1,000 a month. But he took it at age 62, so he received only $700. In that case — omitting years of inflation adjustments to keep this simple — your survivor benefit is $700 or 82.5% of $1,000, whichever is greater. In this example, your survivor benefit is $825 (82.5% of $1,000).

The bottom line

Taking Social Security before your full retirement date reduces the benefit available to your survivors.

More information

bit.ly/SSAsurvivorbenefits

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