Ask Larry

My ex husband and I was married for over 9 years.my ex husband passed we married twice does that count but not in the same calenders year we never married any one else after our divorce

Hi. I assume you mean that you were divorced from your husband at the time of his death. If so, you'd need to have been married for a minimum of 10 consecutive years in order to be potentially be eligible for surviving divorced spousal benefits. The only way that 2 marriages to the same person can be combined in order to meet the 10 year requirement is if the period of divorce that separated the marriages lasted less than a full calendar year.

For example, say that Robert married Lois on 5/6/80, was divorced 5/2/86. On 7/7/87, they remarried but were again divorced 9/5/90. The 10-year requirement is then met. However, if Robert and Lois had remarried in 1988 instead of 1987 and were divorced again on 9/5/90, the 10-year requirement would not be met. The marriage must be in existence in each of the 10 years before the final divorce in order for a person to meet the duration of marriage requirement for surviving divorced spousal benefits.

Best, Jerry