I was married in 1974 and divorced in 1995. My ex filed for ss at 62. He died 3 months later in april 2011. I am now 64 and will be 65 in April 2018. I was laid off in August 2017. If I claim my Soc Sec now, my benefit is about 2100/mo. The SS people told me that I could claim my ex's which is about 1600 and then switch over to mine at 66. . I do not have any other retirment income other than 401k's. If I don't take SS till 66, I will be paying for living expenses from my savings. Since my amount is more than his, what should I do. I can wait till 66 or 70 if there was some great reason to do so. My mom died at 88, my grandmothers at 90. I am very healthy. I don't plan on working full time again. And your book is fantastic.

Hi,

If the figures you cite are accurate, your best strategy would almost certainly be to file for surviving divorced spousal benefits ASAP and then wait until age 70 to switch to your own record. If the retirement rate you could get on your own record would be around $2100 now, it would be around $3000 if you wait until age 70 to start drawing it. Thus, you would be trading off about $500 per month (i.e. $2100 - $1600) between now and age 70 in order to get around $900 ($3000 - $2100) more month starting at age 70 and continuing for as long as you live. That would add up to you netting roughly $160,000 more in benefits if you live to be the same age as your mother, and even more than that if you live longer.

If your ex received reduced retirement benefits for even a month prior to his death, your benefit rate on his record would be locked in at its current rate. So, it would be to your advantage to claim the surviving divorced spousal benefits effective with the earliest possible month, which could be up to 6 months prior to your month of filing. This retroactivity would be permitted even though you are under full retirement age if your benefit rate would not be further reduced for age by starting your benefits earlier (https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0200204030). Your earnings may have been too high for you to claim full retroactivity, but it sounds like you should be able to start drawing the surviving divorced spousal benefits retroactive to at least September 2017 if you haven't worked since August.

One note of caution, though. Although the above recommended strategy appears clear based on the benefit rates you mentioned, you may still want to use the maximization software available on this website to make certain to avoid any mistakes.

Best, Jerry