1- I am divorced for more than 20 years. I was married for 14 years. my ex wife is unmarried and still lives in Canada. she never had social security number or lived in the USA. I am planning to retire by 1/1/17 and applying for Social security benefit. she is 61 years old and working in Canada. she is welling to give me her part of the SS benefit and welling to sign any documents required. is she allowed to do that? is there is a form that she can sign and declaring that I am the beneficiary as long as I am alive and she can claim her portion when I die?
2- my ex wife and me we are planning to remarry again. if we remarried before retirement, can I claim my social security benefits including her portion? is there is a minimum period for that?
thanks

Hi,

With regard to your first question, the answer is no, your ex cannot sign away her rights to receive benefits on your account. However, whether or not she receives divorced spousal benefits would have no effect on your benefit amount, nor the benefit amounts of any other dependents who may qualify for benefits on your record. And, if she doesn't want benefits for which she's eligible, she can simply not apply for them. No one else can claim her benefits for themselves, though.

The answer to your second question is also no. If she qualifies for spousal benefits on your record, and she applies for them, the benefits would be paid to her. She can give them to you if she wants to, but that would be up to her.

Best, Jerry