Hi, I will turn 66 (full retirement age) in June 2018. I am divorced and was married to ex-spouse for 35 years. I am still employed. I was told I might be able to claim 50% of my former spouse's social security (without penalty) starting January 2018 since I will reach full retirement age in 2018. Is this true? If so, how do I apply (and when do I start process)? Thanks for your assistance. It is overwhelming and I don't completely trust the answers I get from SS office. I like to go prepared before visiting them. Chris

Hi Chris,

No, that's not true. Assuming that your ex is still living, if you filed for divorced spousal benefits with an entitlement date even one month prior to reaching full retirement age (FRA) you would also be deemed to have filed for your own retirement benefits effective with the same month. In that event you would essentially only get the higher of the two benefits and your benefit rate would be reduced for age.

It sounds like what you may want to do is file a restricted application for just divorced spousal benefits only effective with June 2018, or May 2018 if you happen to have been born on June 1st (People born on the 1st day of a month are considered by Social Security to reach their next age on the day prior to their birthday.) You could then potentially draw a divorced spousal benefit equal to 50% of your ex's full retirement age rate (PIA) while allowing your own benefit rate to grow until age 70. However, you can't file an application more than 4 months prior to the month that you want to start drawing the benefits, and in order to qualify your ex needs to be either a) drawing retirement or disability benefits, or b) at least age 62 and your divorce has been final for at least 2 years (https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/handbook/handbook.03/handbook-0311.html).

I want to emphasize that the strategy I've outlined above is only one of many possible filing strategies available to you, and may not be your best strategy depending on your circumstances. You should strongly consider using the maximization software available on this website to explore and compare your filing options in order to determine your optimal strategy.

Best, Jerry