Divorce, Remarriage, and Social Security Benefits
Understand how divorce and remarriage can change your Social Security options, eligibility rules, and long-term retirement income planning.
Divorce, Remarriage, and Your Social Security Benefits
Ending a marriage and starting a new one can change much more than your personal life. It can also reshape your eligibility for Social Security benefits and the strategies you might use to maximize lifetime income in retirement. Understanding what happens to benefits after divorce and remarriage can help you avoid surprises and make better financial decisions.
Core Social Security Benefit Types Affected by Marital Status
Social Security offers several different benefits, and marital history affects some more than others. The main categories are:
- Retirement benefits on your own work record
- Disability benefits on your own work record
- Spousal and divorced-spouse benefits (while your former spouse is alive)
- Survivor and divorced-survivor benefits (after a spouse or ex-spouse dies)
Remarriage has little impact on benefits based on your own earnings, but it can dramatically change benefits based on an ex-spouse’s record.
Benefits Based on Your Own Work Record
For many people, the foundation of retirement income is the benefit earned through their own payroll contributions.
- Retirement benefits: Monthly payments based on your lifetime covered earnings and claiming age.
- Disability benefits: Payments if you become disabled and meet Social Security’s work and medical criteria.
A key point is that divorce or remarriage does not reduce benefits based on your own work record. Whether you marry again, remain single, or divorce multiple times, the formula that determines your personal retirement or disability benefit does not change.
Divorced-Spouse Benefits: When You Can Use an Ex-Spouse’s Record
If you were married and later divorced, you may be able to claim a divorced-spouse benefit using your former spouse’s earnings record. This benefit can be useful when your ex-spouse earned significantly more than you.
Typical Eligibility Requirements
Although details can be complex, people seeking divorced-spouse benefits usually must meet conditions such as:
- The marriage lasted at least 10 years.
- You are at least age 62 to start a divorced-spouse benefit.
- You are currently unmarried.
- Your ex-spouse is eligible for retirement or disability benefits (whether or not they have claimed).
When eligible, the divorced-spouse benefit can be up to 50% of your ex-spouse’s full retirement amount, but if your own benefit is higher, you receive your own instead. Payments to a divorced spouse do not reduce what the worker or their current spouse can receive.
How Remarriage Affects Divorced-Spouse Benefits
Remarriage is often the turning point for divorced-spouse eligibility:
- If you remarry while your ex is alive, your benefits based on that ex-spouse’s record will generally stop as soon as the new marriage is recognized.
- If your later marriage ends (by divorce, annulment, or death), you may again become eligible to claim on an ex-spouse’s record, provided all other rules are met.
In some limited scenarios, such as remarrying the same person within certain time frames, prior marriage periods can sometimes be combined when evaluating the 10-year requirement.
Survivor and Divorced-Survivor Benefits After a Death
When a worker dies, Social Security may pay survivor benefits to a current spouse, former spouse, or dependent children who qualify. These benefits can be a major source of income for widows, widowers, and divorced former spouses.
Basic Survivor Rules for Spouses
If you were married at the time of your spouse’s death, you may qualify for survivor benefits if:
- Your spouse earned enough credits under Social Security.
- You meet the age or disability requirements (often age 60 or 50 if disabled, or at any age if caring for a qualifying child).
Survivor benefits can be as high as the full amount the deceased worker was entitled to receive, depending on claiming age and other factors.
Divorced-Survivor Benefits for Former Spouses
A former spouse may be treated similarly to a widow or widower if the marriage meets the program’s minimum duration requirement, typically at least 10 years. These benefits do not reduce amounts paid to a current surviving spouse or other eligible survivors.
Effect of Remarriage on Survivor and Divorced-Survivor Benefits
The impact of remarriage on survivor-type benefits depends heavily on the age at which you remarry.
| Age at Remarriage | Effect on Survivor or Divorced-Survivor Benefits |
|---|---|
| Before age 50 | Generally, you cannot receive survivor or disability-based surviving spouse benefits while the later marriage is in place. |
| Age 50–59 | Remarriage may still block survivor benefits, with a narrow exception for certain disabled surviving spouses who remarry after age 50. |
| Age 60 or older | Remarriage generally does not prevent you from receiving survivor benefits based on a deceased spouse’s record. |
If you are considering remarriage and already receive, or expect to receive, survivor benefits, it is wise to review the age thresholds carefully before changing your marital status.
Multiple Marriages and Choosing Between Records
Some people have more than one marriage that meets the duration and other criteria for divorced-spouse or divorced-survivor benefits. In these situations, the Social Security Administration generally allows you to receive benefits based on the record that yields the highest payment, assuming you qualify for each.
Key points about multiple marriages include:
- Each marriage must independently satisfy the 10-year duration rule for divorced benefits.
- If you qualify on more than one ex-spouse’s record, you cannot “stack” payments; you receive only the higher amount.
- Your claim does not reduce what any current spouse or other ex-spouse can receive on the same worker’s record.
Remarriage and Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is a separate, means-tested program for people with limited income and resources who are older, blind, or disabled. While remarriage does not change the underlying eligibility rules, it can affect the income and asset calculations that determine how much SSI you receive.
Key SSI considerations include:
- SSI looks at household income and resources, including a spouse’s earnings and assets.
- Remarriage may either increase or reduce your SSI payment, depending on the new spouse’s finances.
- Some recipients lose SSI eligibility altogether if household income exceeds program limits.
Planning Ahead: Legal and Financial Considerations
Divorce settlements and remarriage decisions often intersect with Social Security planning. Although you cannot give away or assign Social Security benefits in a divorce decree, understanding the rules can shape negotiations over other assets.
Issues to Review During or After Divorce
- Whether the marriage is expected to meet the 10-year threshold for divorced benefits.
- Your own projected retirement benefit compared with a possible divorced-spouse benefit.
- Potential survivor benefits if your ex-spouse dies first.
- How changes to your work history after divorce could affect your own future benefit amount.
Questions Before You Remarry
Before entering a new marriage, especially later in life, many people review the timing and impact on benefits:
- Will remarriage cause your current divorced-spouse benefit to stop?
- Are you near the key ages of 50 or 60 that affect survivor-type benefits?
- Would it be beneficial to delay remarriage until after a particular birthday?
- Will your new spouse’s work record support a higher spousal benefit later?
Working With Professionals and the SSA
Because every person’s marital and work history is different, it is often helpful to use multiple resources:
- Social Security Administration (SSA): The SSA provides publications, calculators, and direct assistance to explain how the rules apply to your situation.
- Family law attorneys: They can help you understand how divorce and remarriage decisions may interact with long-term financial planning.
- Financial planners: They can project how various claiming ages and marital choices may affect your lifetime benefits and other retirement income.
Practical Examples of How Rules Can Apply
The rules can be easier to understand by thinking about common patterns (details vary by person and should always be checked with SSA):
- Long-term first marriage, later remarriage: Someone divorced after 15 years may qualify as a divorced spouse at 62, but if they remarry at 63, the benefit based on the first ex-spouse usually stops.
- Widowed and remarrying after 60: A widow who remarries at 61 can often continue to receive survivor benefits based on the deceased spouse’s record because the remarriage occurred after age 60.
- Several long marriages: An individual with two separate 12-year marriages may be able to receive a divorced benefit using whichever ex-spouse’s record produces the higher amount, assuming they are unmarried and meet all conditions.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Does my ex-spouse’s remarriage affect my divorced-spouse benefit?
No. If you qualify as a divorced spouse, your ex-spouse’s remarriage does not reduce or cancel your benefit, and it does not reduce what a current spouse can receive on the same record.
Can I collect Social Security on my ex-spouse if I remarry?
Generally not. If you remarry while your former spouse is still alive, you usually cannot collect benefits based on that ex-spouse’s record, unless your later marriage ends and you again meet all eligibility criteria.
If I am widowed and then remarry, can I still receive survivor benefits?
Yes, in many cases if you remarry at age 60 or older, you may continue to receive survivor benefits on your deceased spouse’s record. Remarriage before that age typically limits eligibility.
Will divorce or remarriage reduce my own retirement benefit?
No. Your personal retirement or disability benefit, based on your own earnings, does not decrease because of divorce or remarriage. The main changes involve spousal, divorced-spouse, and survivor benefits.
Can more than one person receive benefits on the same worker’s record?
Yes. A current spouse, one or more divorced spouses, and certain survivors can all receive benefits based on the same worker’s earnings, as long as each qualifies. These payments are calculated independently and do not reduce one another in most standard situations.
References
- Will Remarrying Affect My Social Security Benefits? — Social Security Administration Blog. 2022-02-10. https://blog.ssa.gov/will-remarrying-affect-my-social-security-benefits/
- If I Remarry, What Happens to My Social Security? — SmartAsset. 2023-08-15. https://smartasset.com/retirement/if-i-remarry-what-happens-to-my-social-security
- Does Divorce Affect Social Security Spousal Benefits? — ElderLawAnswers. 2023-05-01. https://www.elderlawanswers.com/how-do-divorce-and-remarriage-affect-social-security-benefits-14386
- 5 Things Every Woman Should Know About Social Security — Social Security Agency. 2021-01-01. https://www.ssa.gov/sf/FactSheets/WomenandSSrev1.pdf
- Social Security in Remarriage/Divorce — Vetrano & Vetrano. 2020-06-01. https://www.vetranolaw.com/legal-publications/social-security-remarriage-divorce/
Similar Articles
Read full bio of medha deb
