I applied for divorced spouse benefits in early 2015 when I was 68 after receiving notification that I could be entitled to this benefit. I told Social Security I did not want this benefit if it affected my account in any way. I was subsequently approved for this benefit and received a lump sum payment in late 2015. I submitted a request to end this benefit and start receiving retirement benefits from my own account effective June 2016 when I was 69. During the time I was receiving divorced spouse benefits Social Security suspended my retirement account. I am now being told that because my account was suspended I owe Social Security over $18K in overpayments. I do not understand why suspending my account could cause an overpayment. Can you provide an explanation and advice on how to handle this.

Hi,

Once you file for your own Social Security retirement benefits, that becomes your primary benefit for life. You can't subsequently be paid a full spousal, divorced spousal, or survivor benefit EVEN IF you voluntarily suspend your own benefits. If you file for both divorced spousal benefits and your own benefits and your own rate is higher than the divorced spousal rate, you can't qualify for divorced spousal benefits. It wouldn't matter whether or not your own benefits are voluntarily suspended. The only way you could qualify for any divorced spousal benefits after filing for your own benefits is if the divorced spousal rate is higher than your own rate, and even then your divorced spousal rate would just amount to the difference in your own rate and the divorced spousal rate. That's referred to as an excess divorced spousal benefits, but you can't even collect an excess divorced spousal benefits if your own benefits have been voluntarily suspended.

Since you were born prior to January 2 1954, you could potentially have filed just for divorced spousal benefits and delayed filing for your own benefits. But, that apparently didn't happen in your case. If you filed for your own benefits and your benefits were in voluntary suspense when you applied for divorced spousal benefits, then Social Security should never have paid you any divorced spousal benefits. They should have known that, so I can't explain why they paid you the divorced spousal benefits in the first place if that's what happened.

If you filed for your own benefits within the last year then you could potentially withdraw that application and collect divorced spousal benefits, but if you filed for and suspended your benefits more than a year ago then you almost certainly wouldn't be allowed to do that (https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/withdrawal.html). There's probably no other good option.

Assuming that the overpayment you've been notified is correct, then it sounds like it was Social Security's mistake. You could file for waiver (i.e. forgiveness) of the overpayment, but you'll likely only qualify for a waiver if you meet the financial hardship requirement. That would mean proving that you wouldn't be able to meet your necessary living expenses if you had to pay the overpayment back, even if the overpayment was collected in monthly installments.

Best, Jerry