I was born in 1952. At age 65, I started collecting on my ex spouse's social security. I am now 70 and going to collect my own benefit. Social Security indicated that my application but said my amount was reduced due to "early retirement". I am not retiring until

Hi. It looks like you didn't finish your question. In any case, since you were born prior to January 2 1954 you had the option to file a restricted application for divorced spousal benefits effective at your full retirement age (FRA) while allowing your own benefit rate to grow until age 70. FRA for people born in 1952 is age 66, so that's the earliest that you could have started collecting divorced spousal benefits without being deemed to also be filing for your own Social Security retirement benefits at the same time.

If you in fact did start drawing divorced spousal benefits at age 65, then your application for divorced spousal benefits you would also have been deemed to be filing for your own benefits at age 65. You could then only be paid essentially the higher of the two benefit rates, and your benefit rate would be reduced for age for any months you collected benefits prior to FRA.

Hopefully you didn't start drawing divorced spousal benefits prior to age 66, in which case you'd have the option of waiting until age 70 to claim your own benefits. Without access to your Social Security records I have no way of knowing what actually took place, so if you've received a confusing communication from Social Security I would suggest contacting them for an explanation.

Best, Jerry