Hi Larry

I am asking this question for an elderly friend who is 78 years old. She has been divorced for many years. She has been collecting social security of her own record being 1200.00 per month. Too little to live on. Her ex husband made much more than her in their over 20 yr marriage. She has been told she does not qualify for her ex husbands social security. Why would she not qualify? and if she does how to go about it?
Thanks for any help or advice you can give.

Hi,

Assuming that your friend's ex-spouse is living, your friend could only qualify for divorced spousal benefits if her primary insurance amount (PIA) is less than half as much as her ex's 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). I have no way of knowing whether or not your friend might qualify for divorced spousal benefits, but she could contact Social Security and insist on filing an application in order to get a formal determination of her eligibility.

If your friend's ex dies, your friend could potentially qualify for survivor benefits if her ex's benefit rate is higher than her own rate. So, even if your friend doesn't currently qualify for divorced spousal benefits, it sounds like she may qualify for survivor benefits in the future.

Best, Jerry