Hello Larry ...My husband and I have been married for 15 years... He is 66 and I am 60. When his ex-wife turned 62, she began receiving his SS benefits. He on the other hand opted to wait until 66 and a few months to start taking his (March 2021). My question - will the ex-wife be able to start receiving the higher amount of SS when he files, or will she stay with the same amount?
Thank you!

Hi,

No. The age at which your husband starts his benefits has no effect on the calculation of his ex-wife's divorced spousal benefit rate. Unreduced divorced spousal benefits are based on 50% of the worker's primary insurance amount (PIA), not 50% of the worker's actual benefit rate. A person's PIA is equal to their Social Security retirement benefit rate if they start drawing their benefits at full retirement age (FRA).

For example, say that Bob's PIA is $2000. Bob's ex-wife could then be paid an unreduced divorced spousal rate of up to $1000, regardless of whether Bob starts drawing his benefits at age 62, age 70, or anytime in between. However, if Bob's ex starts drawing her divorced spousal benefits when she's age 62, her benefit rate would be permanently reduced for age by roughly 30% to 35% depending on her year of birth.

Therefore, since your husband's ex-wife started drawing at age 62 she'll continue to receive a reduced divorced spousal rate no matter when your husband files for his benefits. However, the fact that your husband's ex started drawing divorced spousal benefits early wouldn't cause her to receive a reduced survivor benefit in the event of your husband's death. Divorced survivor benefit rates are calculated independently from divorced spousal rates, so if your husband's ex is at least FRA at the time of your husband's death she could receive up to 100% of his benefit rate at the time of his death. Thus, by not starting his benefits early, your husband could potentially increase the amount that his ex-wife may receive as a survivor.

Just to clarify, though, whether or not your husband's ex collects benefits on your husband's record has absolutely no adverse effect on his benefit rate. Nor would it have any adverse effect on your potential spousal or survivor benefit rate. Before filing, your husband should strongly consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to fully analyze the options available to him in order to determine the best strategy for maximizing his benefits.

Best, Jerry