I was hoping you can help me. I’m disabled. I’m married to my husband for 5 years now. But I’ve been with him for 11 years now. He has an ex wife. They were married for 18 months and then legally separate. They couldn’t afford the divorce plus they had a son together but they lived in separate houses. She is claiming that when my husband dies. She can take his social security from me. That’s if I don’t die first I’m very sick. I hope you can help me. Thank you Debb

Hi Debb. I'm sorry to hear about your illness. Your situation isn't clear based on your description of events. If your husband never got divorced from his first wife then your marriage to him is likely illegal. And, in that case you wouldn't be eligible for any Social Security benefits based on your husband's Social Security record.

However, assuming that your husband did eventually get divorced from his previous spouse and if you subsequently married him legally, then you could still potentially qualify for widow's benefits regardless of whether or not your husband's ex-spouse can also claim benefits from your husband's account. The entitlement to benefits of a divorced spouse has no adverse effect on the ability of another spouse or divorced spouse to collect benefits from a spouse's Social Security record.

You don't mention your age, your husband's age, nor whether or not your husband is collecting benefits. Therefore, I'm not able to give you any advice regarding your best strategy for claiming benefits. You may want to strongly consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to fully analyze all of your options so that you can determine your best strategy for maximizing your benefits.

Best, Jerry