Hi Larry!! I was married for 34 years when my ex wanted a divorce so we have been separated now for 5 years. We both was and still on SSDI. He is just now filling for a divorce because he says he may be getting married. I’m single and have no intention on getting remarried. I’m 57 now can I claim spouse support now or do I have to wait till my divorce is finalized?? I really could use the money.

Hi. When you refer to 'spouse support', I assume you are referring to Social Security benefits. In that case the answer is no. The earliest that you could potentially qualify for divorced spousal benefits is at age 62. And, even then, for as long as your ex-husband is living you could only qualify for divorced spousal benefits if your ex's primary insurance amount (PIA) is more than twice as much as your own PIA. 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.

Furthermore, if you do qualify for divorced spousal benefits and if you start drawing them prior to your FRA, your divorced spousal rate will be subject to a reduction for age. Unless you have a child in your care who's eligible for benefits on your ex-husband's account, you couldn't collect unreduced divorced spousal benefits prior to FRA even though you're disabled.

Best, Jerry