My ex husband and I met in his own English-speaking country. He emigrated to the US. We married here. He became a naturalized US citizen. We were married more than ten years. He worked very hard as a young man, in his own country. He also worked hard in the US, mostly at low- paying jobs. I believe that he has returned to his country of origin, to live possibly the rest of his years. How can I find out the Social Security equivalent in his country, and its rules in this case? He is 64; I will turn 64 also, this year. Because of disability, I have never been able to sustain full time work. My income has been sparse over the years. I plan to wait until 70 to draw my meager SS, continuing at my small job. Now I see that I can claim on his US SS at age 66. Do I need to track-down his current address? His country's embassy in the US is 600 miles away. How can I gather information about his country of origin's policies re: divorced spouses, and their laws on 'restricted spousal benefits?' Thank you.

Hi,

If your ex-husband paid into the US Social Security program for at least 10 years, you should be able to draw a divorced spousal benefit. As long as you've been divorced for at least 2 years, you can receive these benefits whether or not he has applied for anything. However, if he is entitled to a foreign pension based on his work outside the US, it could affect the amount you would be able to receive as a divorced spouse. This is due to the Windfall Elimination Provision (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10045.pdf), which can result in lower benefits from the US Social Security system if the worker also receives a pension from work not covered by US Social Security.

You don't necessarily need to know where your ex is living in order to apply for benefits, however, Social Security may use the lower WEP formula to calculate your divorced spousal benefit unless they can confirm that he is not receiving a foreign pension. They will ask to see your divorce decree, and possibly also your marriage certificate when you apply. What you should almost certainly do is file a restricted application for divorced spousal benefits only effective with the month you reach age 66. You can then let your own benefit amount grow until you reach age 70, at which point it will be 32% higher than at age 66.

I don't know if you could be eligible for a separate divorced spousal benefit from the other country's Social Security system in which your ex-husband lives and works. Such a benefit would not affect your Social Security benefits in the US, so you should probably look into it. The following link has information about foreign Social Security programs with whom the US Social Security program has agreements, and includes links with addresses where you can write for more information: https://www.ssa.gov/international/agreements_overview.html.

Best, Jerry