SLEDGE: When can you collect from an ex’s account?

Q:  I’ve heard that if you were married 10 years or more, are divorced and haven’t remarried, you can collect from your ex’s account. Is this true? My ex makes about four times what I make. – Randy M.

A:  It might be true. The law says that divorced spouse’s entitlement requires that you be at least age 62; have been married at least 10 years prior to divorce; and either not have remarried, or you remarried but that marriage has ended, or you remarried but it was after the age of 60. But then there’s the question of whether you could receive more on your own work record as a retirement beneficiary than you could by drawing on your ex-wife’s record. The fact that she earns a good deal more than you (although you didn’t say how long this has been the case) suggests that her full retirement benefit — what we call the Primary Insurance Amount, or PIA — is probably more than yours. But is it more than double yours? That’s what it would have to be for you to be eligible for divorced spouse’s benefits on her record, since what you could receive would be based on 50 percent of her full amount. So if your own PIA — the amount you can receive on your record at your full retirement age — is more than 50 percent of her PIA, then you can get more on your record than you can on hers. And the way Social Security retirement benefits are calculated tends to give those who earned less a benefit that is larger in relation to their lifetime earnings than it does to those who earned more.

Here’s an example. Let’s say your ex-wife’s PIA is $1,900, and yours is $1,400. Since yours would be more than 50 percent of hers (50 percent of $1,900 is $950), you would not be eligible for a divorced spouse’s benefit in this case. But if your PIA was $949 or less, then you would be.

Note that this could all change if she were to die before you. Benefits for a surviving divorced spouse can be based on the deceased spouse’s full PIA, not 50 percent.

For more on this subject, check out http://www.socialsecurity.gov — especially the topic heading “Benefits” under the link headed “Questions?”

Q:  I make about $30,000 and she makes $75,000-$100,000. We’re both age 55. Neither of us has remarried. My guess would be that my own benefit would be less than 50 percent of hers. How can I get this information? And do I understand you that, if she dies before I do, I would get more? – Randy

A:  Bear in mind that Social Security retirement benefits are based on an average of one’s best 35 years of earnings. If your ex-wife has consistently earned 2½ to three times as much as you have over that period, then I’d agree that there’s a good chance her PIA could be sufficiently higher than yours to make divorced spouse’s benefits payable. But the only way to be sure is to get the actual figures. You can get your own benefit estimate by going to http://www.socialsecurity.gov and using the Retirement Estimator, found under “What You Can Do Online.” As for the estimated benefit amount that you could receive on her record, though, you’ll have to get that through your local office. They can usually find her Social Security number if you give them her name, date and place of birth and parents’ names. But you’ll need to prove that you are entitled to this information, and to do that you’ll need to provide proof of marriage and proof of divorce.

And yes, it’s entirely possible that, even if your own unreduced retirement benefit is more than 50 percent of hers, thereby barring payments as a divorced spouse, you still might be able to draw as a divorced widower if she should die before you. This is because survivor’s benefits are based on the full benefit of the deceased worker, not on 50 percent of that benefit.

Ned Sledge is a Social Security Public Affairs Specialist in Richmond. Questions about Social Security issues may be directed to him by e-mailing .