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sissy70 Asked January 2018

I was married for 19 yrs and divorced at 62. I tried to collect on his and at early retirement they said my $1000 was much more than his, how can this be?

I took early retirement. He has since re-married, not me. When he retired he made six figure income. I tried to collect on his, I just had min wage jobs.  I tried to collect on his knowing he made much much more income than me. Mine at early retirement $1,ooo mo and they said that mine was more than his how can this be?

anonymous439773 Jan 2018
Some of his six figure income could be from income that is not employment covered by Social Security. Also, he has to have applied for Social Security. His current wife is not part of the equation since you were married for more than 10 years. You probably would get only a very small sum from his income. At the time I was 62 and my attorney and Social security both told me to hold out on collecting until he applied or died. At that time, I was not remarried and if I waited until he was 67 or dead, I would automatically get 50% of what he was drawing. I have now remarried. My current husband and I have delayed drawing Social Security until we are 70 so that we can both max out our Social Security. We are both 68 and still working. My husband and are both drawing pensions from earlier employment. Hopefully, Social Security will still be around two years from now.

igloo572 Jan 2018
Could be that his “six figure income” wasn’t his personal income.
It doesn’t figure into SS formula. His SS payout is actually quite low.

Like he has a Inc. or an LLC and those entities actually make the $; he’s just a “pass through” for whatever the profit / loss shows for that years taxes. He pays self employment taxes and banks enough work quarters to qualify for eventual Medicare, but personally makes very little SSA countable income. Pretty common for those who own a small business ( atty, real estate developers, architects, ad agency guys) even if biz makes $$$, and why sometimes you need a pit bully of a divorce attorney. If you still have your joint tax filings from years married, I’d suggest you review to see if this is what happened.  If so, I feel for you as this unhappy surprise happens a lot & only now that the boomers are retiring are those first wives finding they are screwed. 

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Veronica91 Jan 2018
I think you know where you can find your answers. There are so many variables that they only way to get true answers is from the horse's mouth. Ex's age at retirement, age now. How long was he earning 6 figures? SS is calculated on the (I think ten yrs) highest earning years not just what he was earning when he retired. if you can make an appointment at the SS office it may be easier to get face to face answers rather than a phone call which may leave you with many more questions than answers.
Another snag is that there is only a certain% of ex's pension available to divide between all who are entitled. So if current spouse is entitled she gets a cut. Any minor children will get some. On and on. once minor children reach adulthood they loose their benefit unless they are in full time education it lasts till 25 . So eventually that money goes into the pool and more is available to share.

Tothill Jan 2018
Not sure how it works in the US, but in Canada benefits are split based on the point in time of the separation/divorce, not retirement.

I was married 22 years and whatever my ex and I paid in to CPP (Canadian SS), was added together and split. Ex has remarried and has a 6 figure income now (I do not have employment income I am in University). When we retire in 13 years, my CPP will be based on 1/2 the combined contributions while married and contributions once I am employed again. Ex will be the same, 1/2 of the combined (22 years worth) and whatever ex contributes until he retires. His new wife will have survivors benefits.

This makes sense, why would I be eligible for my ex's increased CPP due to his employment after the divorce. It is a two way street. If I get my professional designation and do well financially, why should my benefit earned after the divorce be shared with my ex?

Kimber166 Jan 2018
I think the question is how can her spouse have a lower SSI than she does when he made much more income.

Guestshopadmin Jan 2018
There is a whole page on the social security website about divorced spouses and benefits. You were married over 10 years, but how long have you been divorced? Unless you've been divorced for TWO YEARS, unless he's also applied for social security benefits, you'll only be able to collect on your own benefits until you've been divorced for two years.
www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/divspouse.html
Here's some info regarding divorced benefits from that page:
"If you are divorced, but your marriage lasted 10 years or longer, you can receive benefits on your ex-spouse's record (even if they have remarried) if:
You are unmarried;
You are age 62 or older;
Your ex-spouse is entitled to Social Security retirement or disability benefits; and
The benefit you are entitled to receive based on your own work is less than the benefit you would receive based on your ex-spouse's work.
Note: Your benefit as a divorced spouse is equal to one-half of your ex-spouse's full retirement amount (or disability benefit) if you start receiving benefits at your full retirement age. The benefits do not include any delayed retirement credits your ex-spouse may receive.
If your ex-spouse has not applied for retirement benefits, but can qualify for them, you can receive benefits on their record if you have been divorced for at least two years.
If you are eligible for retirement benefits on your own record and divorced spouse’s benefits, we will pay the retirement benefit first. If the benefit on your ex-spouse’s record is higher, you will get an additional amount on your ex-spouse’s record so that the combination of benefits equals that higher amount.

freqflyer Jan 2018
Sissy, am I reading this correctly, you and your husband divorce, then he re-married you? But there is an issue with your social security, that you felt that your husband should be receiving more through social security then what you are receiving due to the type of jobs you had.

You need to make an appointment with your nearest Social Security office to have the staff figure out why there is such a difference in funds.

Ahmijoy Jan 2018
Your question is really difficult to understand. Please repost in sentences. If you have questions about Social Security payments and why they are what they are, you need to contact your local S.S. office and ask them. They have access to your records and can answer you questions.

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