Can I Get Social Security Benefits From My Ex Husband?

You can collect Social Security benefits from an ex-husband’s work record if your marriage lasted at least 10 years, you are 62 or older, you are currently unmarried, and he qualifies for Social Security retirement or disability benefits. The maximum is 50% of the benefit he would receive at his full retirement age, or up to 100% as a survivor if he has died. Claiming on his record does not reduce his check or affect his current wife or children in any way.¹ He does not have to approve it, and in most cases he never has to be involved.

Who Qualifies

Four conditions have to line up:

Your marriage lasted at least 10 years, counted from the wedding date to the date the divorce was final.
You are at least 62 years old.
You are not currently married.
Your ex-husband is eligible for Social Security retirement or disability benefits. He does not have to have filed.

That last point is the one people miss. If your ex is at least 62 and has enough work credits but hasn’t claimed yet, you can still file on his record, as long as you have been divorced for at least two continuous years.² If he is already collecting, the two-year wait doesn’t apply and you can file as soon as the divorce is final (assuming the 10-year marriage).

How Much You Can Receive

The maximum divorced spouse benefit is 50% of your ex-husband’s primary insurance amount, which is the monthly figure he would get at his full retirement age.³ You only receive the full 50% if you wait until your own full retirement age to claim. For anyone born in 1960 or later, that age is 67.⁴

Filing early cuts the payment permanently. If you claim at 62 with a full retirement age of 67, the divorced spouse benefit drops to as little as 32.5% of his primary insurance amount, and it stays at that reduced level for life.³

If You Also Worked and Have Your Own Benefit

If you qualify for both your own retirement benefit and a divorced spouse benefit, you don’t get to pick one and hold the other in reserve. Under the deemed filing rule, applying for either counts as applying for both, and you receive the higher of the two amounts rather than both stacked.⁵ If your own retirement benefit at full retirement age would be $1,800 and the divorced spouse benefit would be $1,200, you simply receive your own $1,800. Claiming on an ex-husband’s record only helps if it produces the larger check.

Deemed filing applies to anyone born on or after January 2, 1954, at any age. It does not apply to survivor benefits, which is why the rules change once an ex-husband dies.

If You Are Still Working

If you claim before reaching full retirement age and keep working, the earnings test can temporarily reduce your check. In 2026, Social Security withholds $1 in benefits for every $2 you earn above $24,480. In the year you reach full retirement age, the threshold rises to $65,160, and only $1 is withheld for every $3 above it.⁶ Once you hit full retirement age, the earnings test goes away, and the SSA recalculates your monthly amount upward to credit you for the months benefits were withheld.

How Remarriage Changes Things

Remarrying generally ends your eligibility for benefits on an ex-husband’s record, whatever your new spouse earns or receives from Social Security.¹ The exception is remarriage after age 60, or after age 50 if you are disabled: in that case, you can still collect on your first ex-husband’s record, and you would receive whichever benefit is highest among the divorced spouse benefit, the current spouse benefit, or your own retirement benefit.⁷

If you remarried before 60 and lost eligibility, it isn’t gone forever. When that later marriage ends through death or divorce, you can qualify again on your first ex-husband’s record, as long as you are unmarried when you apply.⁸

If Your Ex-Husband Has Died

The numbers change substantially in your favor when an ex-husband dies. A surviving divorced spouse can receive up to 100% of his benefit at your full retirement age for survivors, rather than the 50% cap that applies while he is living.⁹ The 10-year marriage requirement and the unmarried requirement (or remarriage after 60) still apply.⁷

You can claim survivor benefits as early as age 60, or 50 with a qualifying disability.¹⁰ Claiming before your survivor full retirement age (between 66 and 67 depending on birth year) reduces the amount, starting at 71.5% at age 60 and rising the longer you wait.⁹

Survivor benefits are exempt from deemed filing.¹¹ That opens a real planning option. You can claim reduced survivor benefits at 60 and switch to your own retirement benefit at 70, when delayed retirement credits have maximized it. Or you can take your own reduced retirement benefit at 62 and switch to full survivor benefits at your survivor full retirement age. Either sequence can produce more lifetime income than filing for everything at once.

A Short-Marriage Exception for Parents

The 10-year rule has one important carveout. If you are caring for your ex-husband’s biological or legally adopted child who is under 16 or disabled, you can qualify on his record after as little as one year of marriage.¹² The same exception extends to survivor benefits if he has died, and it applies regardless of your own age.¹⁰ These child-in-care benefits end when the youngest child turns 16, unless the child is disabled, so they work as a bridge rather than a lasting income source.

How to Apply

Three ways to file: online at ssa.gov (if you are within three months of 62 or older), by phone at 1-800-772-1213, or in person at your local Social Security office.¹³ Survivor benefit applications can’t be filed online; you’ll need to call or visit.

Gather these before you apply:

Your birth certificate or other proof of birth
Proof of U.S. citizenship or lawful immigration status if you were not born in the U.S.
Your marriage certificate
Your final divorce decree
Your ex-husband’s Social Security number, if you have it
Last year’s W-2 forms or self-employment tax returns
His death certificate, for a survivor claim, if you have it

If you don’t have his Social Security number, apply anyway. The SSA specifically advises not to delay because of missing documents; they will help you track down what’s needed.¹³

1
Social Security Administration. If You Had a Prior Marriage
2
Social Security Administration. Code of Federal Regulations 404-0331
3
Social Security Online. Benefits for Spouses
4
Social Security Administration. Benefits Planner: Retirement – Born in 1960 or Later
5
Social Security Administration. Filing Rules for Retirement and Spouses Benefits
6
Social Security Administration. Receiving Benefits While Working
7
Social Security Administration. Survivors Benefits
8
Social Security Administration. Benefits on the Death of a Spouse or Divorced Spouse
9
Social Security Administration. What You Could Get From Survivor Benefits
10
Social Security Administration. Who Can Get Survivor Benefits
11
Social Security Administration (SSA). Deemed Filing
12
Social Security Administration. Who Can Get Family Benefits
13
Social Security Administration. Form SSA-2 – Information You Need to Apply for Spouse’s or Divorced Spouse’s Benefits