Larry, I was married for 22 years and will be 66 in 2017, when my full SS pension benefit would be approx. $1800+/month. I hope to wait to claim it, however, until I am 70, in order to receive the maximum benefit. My ex-husband won't be 66 until 2019, when his full pension benefit would have been approx. $2400+/month. But last year he said he needed to take a reduced SS pension, which is says is approx. $1500-1600/month. Will that make it impossible to claim the spousal benefit when I turn 66... because his reduced pension is less than my full pension would be -- although mine is still less than what the FULL pension he earned and COULD have claimed, had he waited? It seems totally unjust that I will be disqualified from the spousal benefit that I really need, because of his decision to claim early.

Hi,

I have good news for you. You can get an unreduced divorced spousal benefit equal to 1/2 of your ex's full retirement age benefit amount (PIA) regardless of whether or not he files for a reduced benefit himself. You must be unmarried to qualify, and your ex must either be drawing benefits on his own record, or he must be at least age 62 and your divorce must be final for at least 2 years.

What you should almost certainly do is file a restricted application for only divorced spousal benefits effective with the month you reach full retirement age, which is age 66 in your case. If you filed for benefits starting sooner than that, you'd be deemed to be applying for reduced retirement benefits on your own account as well. You obviously don't want that. Then, after drawing unreduced divorced spousal benefits for 4 years, you can switch to your own account at age 70, at which time your benefit amount will be 32% higher than the full retirement age amount.

Best, Jerry