First, why did "they" put a cap of ten years married, to be able to get ex spouse social security benefits? I was married for 9 years and my ex husband is a millionaire. Can I appeal the ten years, and get 5 years and half of his social security benefits, hiring an attorney to appeal?

Hi,

Actually, in the original Social Security law that established divorced spousal benefits, the duration of marriage requirement was 20 years. Congress reduced the requirement starting in 1979 to 10 years, but they haven't changed the rule since then. I have no idea why they settled on a period of 10 years.

You could file a claim for divorced spousal benefits and then file an appeal if your claim is disallowed, but the 10 year duration of marriage requirement is part of the law (https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/ssact/title02/0216.htm#act-216-b). To win your appeal, you would almost certainly have to go through the various appeal steps and then file and win a civil suit in federal court (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10041.pdf). That seems very unlikely to me, but you may want to discuss it with an attorney.

Best, Jerry