Hi Larry,
I was married for 19 years divorced for six years. I remarried for 18 years my then husband passed away after 18 years of marriage. I remarried in 2010 to my wonderful husband,Mark he passed away 9/11.2017. Can I file on my ex husband's retirement he is remarried? I am 67 my late husband,Mark had no life insurance no estate. I am also trying to find out how much money I will get from the government to live on. I was getting around $900.00 a month. My husband,Mark got around $2030.00 a month. Social security says I will only get around $1000.00 a month. I am totally depressed and confused. I hope you can give me some answer's.
Sincerely,
Judy

Hi Judy,

Yes, your ex husband's current marital status is immaterial to your potential eligibility for divorced spousal benefits, but he must be at least age 62 or drawing disability benefits in order for you to potentially qualify for benefits on his record

Assuming that you were married to your last husband for at least 9 months, it sounds like you might be potentially eligible for benefits on the records of all 3 of your spouses, . You can only draw benefits on one of their records at a time, though. Since you're already over full retirement age there would be no reason not to simply file on the record that would pay you the highest benefit rate. However, if you're already drawing benefits on your own record Social Security will only pay you the higher benefit rate. You can't draw both retirement benefits plus a full divorced spousal or survivor benefit, just the higher of those 2 rates.

A divorced spouse drawing on a living ex's record can only get up to 50% of their ex's full retirement age rate, but surviving divorced spouses and widows can get up to 100% of their spouse's full benefit rate. So, it sounds like Social Security may have quoted you an incorrect potential benefit amount.

You should probably re-contact Social Security and ask to file a claim on whichever of your husband's records would provide you with the highest benefit rate. And, if you haven't started drawing your own retirement benefits but you are potentially eligible, you could then switch to your own record at age 70 if your own retirement rate is higher at that time than the rate payable on the highest of your husbands' records.

Best, Jerry