Ask Larry

My ex husband and I divorc d in 1994. He remarried. I did not. His wife died. He currently is not married. I collect my own SS benefit. I'm 72. We both are retired. My question is : can I collect From his SS benefit?

Hi. Your ex-spouse's marital status is irrelevant when determining your eligibility for divorced spousal benefits. As long as he's living, though, the only way that you could qualify for divorced spousal benefits is if your primary insurance amount (PIA) is less than half as much as your ex's PIA. A person's PIA is equal to their Social Security retirement benefit rate if they start drawing their benefits at full retirement age (FRA). If you're unsure about how your PIA compares with your ex's PIA, you can file an application for divorced spousal benefits to get a formal determination of your eligibility.

If your ex dies before you and assuming that you were married to him for at least 10 years, you could potentially qualify for survivor benefits on his account if your survivor rate is higher than your own benefit rate. Your potential survivor rate would amount to the higher of a) 100% of your ex's gross monthly Social Security retirement benefit rate, or b) 82.5% of his PIA. You couldn't be paid both your own benefit rate and a full survivor benefit, though, just the higher of the two amounts.

Best, Jerry