I was married for 19 yrs and stayed home to raise our children. We are divorced and he is remarried. I am 64 going on 65. I went to SS to see if I could get mine at 63 and they told me i could but only get a ck twice a yr for 743.00. I would also have to work part time. I work full tiime and have for 10yrs now. Does thst sound correct to you? He is a millionaire but is incorporated so they said I would only get 25.00 more under him.

Hi,

I don't have enough information about your circumstances to be able to tell you if what Social Security told you was correct or not.

If you file before full retirement age (FRA) and your ex is at least age 62, you would be deemed to be filing for both your own retirement benefits and for divorced spousal benefits. You would then receive essentially the higher of the 2 benefit rates, and your rate would be reduced for age (https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/quickcalc/earlyretire.html). However, until you reach FRA, your benefits would potentially be subject to withholding due to the Social Security earnings test (https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/whileworking2.html).

Since you were apparently born prior to January 2 1954, you would have the option of filing just for divorced spousal benefits only at FRA and allowing your own benefit rate to grow until age 70. That may or may not be your best strategy depending on your and your ex's relative benefit rates. The maximization software available on this website should be able to help you determine your best filing strategy.

Best, Jerry