Dear Larry, I will be 66 in February, 2018. My ex will be 61 in April, 2018. We were married for 18 years, have been divorced for 18 years and I have not remarried. I applied for full retirement benefits three weeks ago, but have not started receiving them yet. Because my ex won't turn 62 until April, 2019, it's my understanding I cannot apply for his benefits until then. Can I receive my full benefits until he turns 62, then suspend them and file for his? Thank you!

Hi,

No, you couldn't suspend your own benefits and receive divorced spousal benefits instead. However, if your divorced spousal rate would be higher than your own benefit rate you could start out drawing your own retirement benefits and then file for additional divorced spousal benefits when you become eligible for those benefits.

Depending on your relative retirement and divorced spousal benefit rates, a better strategy may be to withdraw your application for retirement benefits, wait until your ex-husband reaches age 62 and then file for divorced spousal benefits only at that time. Or, if your ex-husband happens to be drawing Social Security disability benefits, you could file for just divorced spousal benefits only as early as the month you turn age 66. You could then switch to your own retirement benefits at age 70, assuming that your own rate would be higher than your divorced spousal rate at that time.

It's important to note that the alternate strategy I mentioned above would only be advantageous if your own retirement benefit rate is higher than what your divorced spousal rate would be. If it isn't, then your best strategy is likely to go ahead and file for your own retirement benefits at age 66 as you planned, and then file for additional divorced spousal benefits (if any) when you become eligible for those benefits.

Before doing anything else, you should strongly consider using the maximization software available on this website in order to determine your best strategy for claiming benefits.

Best, Jerry