I am a 67 year old woman working as an adjunct professor at an area college. My salary is low and is subsidized by a small alimony payment and additional part-time work I get seasonally. I originally decided to wait to collect on my social security until I was age 70, to maximize my benefits, but am concerned that the laws governing social security may change. Is is still wise to wait to collect, or should I start taking social security now? My second question is, "Would it be wise to collect on my former husband's social security instead of my own? I would get about $850/month on my SS if taken now, or about $1000 on my ex-husbands.

Hi,

I would be shocked if Congress passed any Social Security changes that would alter the benefit options of people like you who are already old enough to be receiving benefits. But more importantly, if you are potentially eligible for divorced spousal benefits you should almost certainly file for them now. In fact, you should probably have filed for them at age 66 since divorced spousal benefits reach their maximum rate at the eligible person's full retirement age (FRA). It's only Social Security retirement benefits that accrue the 8% annual delayed retirement credits (DRC) between FRA and age 70 for people who defer taking their benefits (https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/delayret.html).

Since you've already reached FRA and you were born prior to January 2 1954, you are permitted to file just for divorced spousal benefits only without also filing for your own retirement benefits. You can then be paid divorced spousal benefits while still accruing DRCs on your own record, and you could then switch to your own record at age 70 if your own benefit rate is higher than your divorced spousal rate at that time.

Bottom line, if the information in your question is accurate and you are eligible for divorced spousal benefits (https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/handbook/handbook.03/handbook-0311.html), then it certainly sounds like you should file for them now. At least there would be no downside as far as your Social Security benefits are concerned. In fact, if you can file online today (3/30/2018) at ssa.gov (https://secure.ssa.gov/iClaim/rib) or call a Social Security office and make an appointment to apply, you almost certainly should do so in order to prevent a further loss of benefits. Social Security can pay you retroactively for no more than 6 months prior to your month of filing.

Make sure that when you file your claim for divorced spousal benefits that you exclude your own retirement benefits from the scope of your application. You can do so on the online application by answering 'yes' to the following question: 'If you are eligible for both retirement benefits and spouse's benefits, do you want to delay receipt of the retirement benefit.'

Best, Jerry