Social Security After Divorce
20 CFR 404 · reviewed September 6, 2026
Checks whether you can collect Social Security on a former spouse's record, and shows how much, while they are living and after they die. AboutLess
In plain words. If you were married at least ten years and are not married now, you can collect a Social Security benefit based on your former spouse's earnings: up to half their full benefit while they are alive, and up to their whole benefit after they die. They do not have to agree, are not told, and lose nothing, and neither does anyone they married later. This tool checks the conditions and shows the benefit at your claiming age, alongside your own.
Why it matters. Many divorced people, especially those who spent years out of the workforce, have a larger benefit available on a former spouse's record than on their own and never claim it, because nobody told them.
An example. Married twelve years, divorced five years ago, former spouse's full benefit $3,000, your own $1,000: at your full retirement age you receive $1,500 a month, your own $1,000 plus a $500 top-up. If your former spouse dies, the survivor benefit is up to $3,000 a month.
Where it stops. It checks the rules that turn on years and ages. Social Security decides on the records, and a divorce less than two years old needs the former spouse to have filed. It does not model a disabled surviving divorced spouse at 50, or the government pension offset for public employees. Everything it leaves out.
From their Social Security statement, if you have it. If not, estimate it, since Social Security uses their actual record when you apply.
From your own Social Security statement. Enter 0 if you never worked enough to earn one.
It must have lasted 10 years or more.
Once the divorce is 2 years old, your former spouse does not need to have filed for benefits yet.
This sets your full retirement age, which is 67.
- Half your former spouse's full benefit
- $1,500
- The most their record can pay you while they are alive, if you claim at your full retirement age
- Survivor benefit if you claim at 60 after their death
- $2,145
- It rises to $3,000 if you wait until the full retirement age for survivors
- Conditions you meet
- All
- Married ten years, unmarried now, 62 or older, and your former spouse has filed or is 62
The benefit on a former spouse's record works the same as a married spouse's. It is half their full benefit, and you receive only the part above your own. It is reduced if you claim early and never grows for waiting past your full retirement age. After their death it becomes the survivor benefit, which is their whole benefit and can start as early as 60 at a reduced amount. Nothing you receive reduces what they or their new spouse receive.
This follows the Social Security rules for divorced spouses and surviving divorced spouses, including the reductions for claiming early. It assumes whole-year claiming ages, today's dollars, and that your former spouse did not claim early. It leaves out the rule that makes you claim both benefits at once, the earnings test, the offset for a government pension, benefits for a disabled surviving divorced spouse from 50, and benefits for children. Educational, not advice.
This is a simplified model, not your actual tax return or plan. It only knows what you type in, leaves out rules that may apply to you, and cannot weigh the other facts and trade-offs a real decision depends on. Before you act, talk with a professional who knows your whole situation.
Educational only, not investment, tax, or legal advice. Results are hypothetical estimates that vary with each use and over time and are not guaranteed accurate or complete. Using this tool creates no client relationship with Considerate Capital, and the site that linked here is not affiliated with it. By using it you agree to the tool terms.