Hi Larry,
I think I was misled by SS regarding spousal benefits. I was married for more than 10 years, and divorced 50 years ago!!
I was told to wait to get spousal benefits until I am 70. Now that I am almost 70, I contacted SS and they told me I missed out - I should have been getting spousal benefits since 1966! Additionally, I am trying to get my marriage certificate from VitalCheck but my ex and I cannot remember the day we were married back in 1969 (we both moved on a long time ago so I have tried 8 dates so far). I have only a few days left to get the marriage certificate. to SS. SS said they told me I only had a certain amount of days to get it to them, or the file will be closed. The women did not tell me that upon my first conversation with her.
Do I have any recourse for these 2 issues?
Thanks so much!

Hi,

With regard to proof of your marriage, a number of different documents could potentially be submitted as evidence. For more information, refer to the following section of Social Security's operations manual (POMS): https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0200305020. But, if your claim for divorced spousal benefits does end up being disallowed for lack of evidence you can file an appeal (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10041.pdf), although you would still likely need to submit satisfactory evidence of your marriage in order to win your case.

You don't mention it, but you would also likely need to submit proof of your divorce (e.g. divorce decree) to prove that your marriage lasted for at least 10 years. And if your divorce decree shows the date of your marriage, that may be enough evidence of marriage for Social Security to approve your claim even without a separate marriage certificate.

With regard to your other issue, if a Social Security representative gave you misinformation that caused you not to file for divorced spousal benefits sooner, then you may be able to have the filing date of your claim backdated. However, you would need to establish to Social Security's satisfaction that misinformation did in fact occur. For suggested types of proof that could be used to establish misinformation, refer to the following section of POMS: https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0200204008.

Best, Jerry