I retired and am receiving trs and 1/2 of my social security benefits on my own record. I am divorced after 35 years of marriage and have not remarried. My ex-spouse is retired receiving social security benefits and has remarried. I have since had to go back to work and pay into social security. What happens to the social security I am paying in now? I am 70 years of age.

Hi,

Any earnings on which you pay Social Security taxes can be used to potentially increase your benefit rate. Your Social Security retirement rate is based on an average of your highest 35 years of wage-indexed earnings. If you are already drawing benefits and then return to work, your subsequent earnings years can potentially be used to replace lower or zero earnings years that were previously used to compute your benefit rate. When applicable, recomputations can be done automatically and on an annual basis (https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/handbook/handbook.07/handbook-0721.html).

Best, Jerry