Hello Larry,
I am a 65 year old dual USA/Spain citizen and I want to retire. I am divorced after 14 years of being married to an American. My ex-husband is 62; he served 23 years in the US Air Force and now working for the State of Florida.
For the last 5 years, I've been living and working in Spain for a Spanish hospital. Before that time, I was living and working in United States and I had enough credits to retire there since I was 62; both countries have an agreement, so I am waiting now for the USA SS to send my itemized earnings/working time to the Spanish SS in order to claim the necessary time/earnings to can access to my pension from Spain.
Now, I have these questions:
1- Do I have to wait until I stop working here in Spain to apply for the American SS?
2- I want to apply as a formal spouse and get whatever percentage I am entitled to (I think the amount will be greater that way). How I have to do that?
3- The percentage I would receive is calculated solely on my ex-husband Social Security or that would include also his military pension?
Thank you so much!
Hi. You can apply for benefits at any time, but until you reach your full retirement age (FRA) you couldn't be paid benefits for any month(s) that you work more than 45 hours outside the U.S. (https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/handbook/handbook.18/handbook-1823.html).
Since you were born after January 1 1954 and since your ex-spouse is still living, whenever you apply for either your own U.S. Social Security retirement benefits or for divorced spousal benefits you'll be deemed to be filing for both benefits. You'll then be paid essentially the higher of the two benefit rates, and your benefit rate will be reduced for age if you claim benefits prior to your FRA.
Unreduced divorced spousal benefits are calculated based on 50% of the worker's primary insurance amount (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). Your husband's PIA is calculated based only on his earnings that were subject to Social Security taxes, although deemed military wages can be included for certain periods of active U.S. military service (https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/handbook/handbook.09/handbook-0953.html).
If you can't apply for benefits online at ssa.gov (https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/), you should be able to apply for U.S. benefits at any Social Security office in Spain. Or, you could apply at the U.S. embassy in Madrid (https://www.ssa.gov/foreign/foreign.htm#Saba)
Best, Jerry
