My husband of 16 years divorced me after having breast cancer said he was not attracted to me anymore.. he was ordered to pay $1100. A month alimony and half of his retirement.. he had already retired and was receiving disability at the time.. I hired a lawyer then to get this done because he refused 11 years ago.. I have not received anything as of yet except excuses.. I’m now homeless and he made over a hundred thousand a year easily.. what can I do .. I’m older than him and have been on disability for several years now.. he turned 62 this past Oct 6.

Hi,

I'm sorry to hear about the problems you're having. Social Security benefits can be garnished for alimony, but you'd need to obtain a garnishment order from the proper court of jurisdiction. I'm not a lawyer, though, so I can't give you any advice on how to go about doing that.

With regard to Social Security benefits, it sounds like you might be eligible for divorced spousal benefits, but only if your ex-husband's primary insurance amount (PIA) is more than twice as much as your PIA (https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/handbook/handbook.03/handbook-0311.html). A person's PIA is equal to their Social Security retirement benefit rate if they start drawing their benefits at full retirement age (FRA), or their full Social Security disability (SSDI) benefit rate. I have no way of knowing how your PIA compares to your ex-husband's PIA, so you may want to check with Social Security to explore your options.

Best, Jerry