I am divorced, 65, still working and plan to work a few more years. I was married 16 years but have been divorced for many years and never remarried. My ex-husband is 68 and retired. I am pretty sure that my social security benefit at age 66 will be higher than my ex-husband's. But if I keep working and do not claim my own social security at age 66, can I get a social security check from my ex-husband's account and then switch to my social security benefit when I decide to take it?

Hi,

Yes, effective with the month you reach full retirement age, which is age 66 in your case, you can file a restricted application for divorced spousal benefits only, while allowing your own retirement benefit to accrue delayed retirement credits until you reach age 70. And, if you wait until age 70 to switch to your own record, your own benefit rate will be 32% higher than it would have been if you had started it at age 66. That is almost certainly the best filing strategy in your case.

The reason that you can still follow this strategy is because you were born before January 2 1954, and were thus grandfathered under the new deeming rules passed by Congress last year (https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/deemedfaq.html).

Best, Jerry