Can You Collect an Ex-Spouse’s Social Security Benefits?

Yes, if your marriage lasted at least 10 years, you’re 62 or older, you’re not remarried, and your ex qualifies for Social Security retirement or disability. At your full retirement age you can get up to half of your ex’s full benefit. Your ex’s check doesn’t shrink, and Social Security doesn’t tell your ex you applied.

If your ex has died, the rules change and usually get better for you: you may get up to 100% of their benefit as a surviving divorced spouse. Here is how both work, what you’ll get at different ages, and where kids fit in.

The four rules for divorced-spouse benefits

• The marriage lasted 10 years or more. Ten years is counted from the wedding date to the date the divorce became final. Nine years and eleven months doesn’t count.
• You’re at least 62.
• You’re unmarried now. If you remarried and that marriage ended, you can qualify again.
• Your ex is entitled to retirement or disability benefits.

There’s one more test that trips people up: you get the divorced-spouse benefit only if it’s bigger than the retirement benefit on your own work record. Social Security doesn’t add the two together. If your own benefit is $1,100 a month and half of your ex’s is $900, you get your own $1,100 and nothing extra.

If your ex hasn’t started collecting yet

You don’t have to wait for your ex to file. If your ex is old enough to qualify (62 or older) but hasn’t claimed, you can still collect as long as you’ve been divorced for at least two straight years. This is sometimes called the “independently entitled” rule. If your ex is already collecting, the two-year wait doesn’t apply.

That matters when an ex is delaying to 70 out of spite or strategy. Their timing doesn’t hold up your claim.

How much you’ll get

The 50% figure is based on your ex’s full benefit at their full retirement age, not on whatever they’re actually receiving. For anyone born in 1960 or later, full retirement age is 67.

What you actually receive depends on when you claim:

• At 62: about 32.5% of your ex’s full benefit (a 35% cut from the 50% maximum), if your full retirement age is 67.
• Between 62 and 67: the cut shrinks each month you wait.
• At 67 or later: 50%. Waiting past full retirement age doesn’t raise a spousal benefit, so there’s no reason to hold off beyond 67.

Here’s what that looks like if your ex’s full benefit is $2,400 a month: about $780 a month if you claim at 62, or $1,200 at 67. The early-claim reduction is permanent. According to AARP, the average divorced-spouse benefit was about $960 a month as of December 2023.

You can’t claim one benefit and let the other grow

Under the “deemed filing” rule, if you were born on or after January 2, 1954, applying for your own retirement benefit counts as applying for any spousal benefit too, and the other way around. The old trick of taking the spousal check while your own benefit grew to age 70 is gone for almost everyone now reaching retirement age.

If you’re still working

Before full retirement age, the earnings test applies. In 2026, if you earn more than $24,480 from work, Social Security holds back $1 for every $2 over that limit. In the year you reach full retirement age, the limit is $65,160 and the holdback is $1 for every $3, counting only the months before your birthday month. From that month on there’s no limit. (Figures as of October 2026; they change every January.)

What it does and doesn’t do to your ex

• Your payment doesn’t come out of your ex’s check.
• It doesn’t reduce benefits for your ex’s current spouse. Several ex-spouses can each collect on the same worker’s record.
• Social Security doesn’t notify your ex that you applied.
• You don’t need your ex’s help or permission. You’ll need their Social Security number if you have it. If you don’t, their date and place of birth and their parents’ names help the office find the record.

One thing a divorce court can’t do: split Social Security itself the way it can split a 401(k) or pension. Your claim comes from federal law, not your divorce decree. That’s why it pays to know about this benefit before you sign a settlement. It may affect how you weigh other assets.

If your ex has died: survivor benefits

Survivor benefits for a divorced spouse are often larger than spousal benefits, and the remarriage rule is looser.

• Age: 60 or older, or 50 to 59 if you have a disability.
• Marriage length: still 10 years.
• Amount: up to 100% of what your ex was receiving (or was entitled to) if you claim at your full retirement age. At 60 it’s 71.5%, rising each month you wait.
• Remarriage: remarrying after 60 (after 50 if you have a disability) doesn’t cost you survivor benefits. Remarrying before that age generally does, unless the later marriage also ends.

Unlike spousal benefits, survivor benefits aren’t tied to your own retirement claim by deemed filing. Many people take one benefit first and switch to the other later. If you’ll qualify for both, ask Social Security to run both scenarios before you file.

Where the kids come in

This is the part most divorced parents miss.

Caring for your ex’s child after your ex dies

If your ex dies and you’re caring for your child together who is under 16 or has a disability, you can get benefits at any age, and the 10-year marriage rule doesn’t apply. The child must also be entitled to benefits on your ex’s record. This is often called the surviving divorced mother’s or father’s benefit, and it can make a real difference for a single parent who suddenly loses child support.

Benefits for the child

Your children can collect on your ex’s record whether or not you were married 10 years. A child qualifies if they’re unmarried and:

• under 18,
• 18 or 19 and still a full-time student in grade 12 or below, or
• 18 or older with a disability that began before age 22.

While your ex is alive and collecting retirement or disability, each child can get up to half of your ex’s full benefit. After your ex dies, each child can get up to 75%. A family maximum caps the total paid on one worker’s record, but benefits paid to a divorced spouse don’t count against that cap.

If your ex is behind on support and starts drawing disability or retirement, these payments can matter a great deal. Our guide to child support options and resources covers what to do when payments stop. How a child’s Social Security benefit is credited toward a support order varies by state, so check your state’s rules.

Public pensions no longer cut these benefits

If you worked as a teacher, police officer, firefighter or other public employee and earned a pension from a job that didn’t pay into Social Security, your spousal or survivor benefit used to be reduced by two-thirds of that pension. That rule, the Government Pension Offset, was repealed by the Social Security Fairness Act, signed January 5, 2025, and retroactive to January 2024. If you were turned down or got a tiny check because of it, contact Social Security again.

How to apply

You can apply online at ssa.gov, by phone at 1-800-772-1213, or at a local Social Security office. Have these ready:

• Your birth certificate or other proof of age
• Your marriage certificate and your final divorce decree (both show the 10-year span)
• Proof of citizenship or lawful status if you weren’t born in the U.S.
• Your W-2s or self-employment tax return for last year
• Your ex’s Social Security number, or their date and place of birth and parents’ names
• For survivor benefits: your ex’s death certificate
• For children’s benefits: each child’s birth certificate and Social Security number

Social Security generally wants original documents or copies certified by the issuing office. They’ll mail the originals back. If you can’t find your divorce decree, ask the clerk of the court in the county where it was granted for a certified copy.

Before you file

• If you’re still married and close to the 10-year mark, know that a divorce finalized even a few weeks early can cost you this benefit for life.
• Look up your own estimated benefit in a my Social Security account at ssa.gov. If it’s higher than half your ex’s, the spousal benefit won’t add anything.
• If your ex has died, ask about survivor benefits and the child-in-care benefit before anything else.
• Don’t claim at 62 by default. Run the numbers for 62, your full retirement age, and points in between.

This article is general information, not legal or financial advice. Social Security rules and dollar figures change; confirm your situation with the Social Security Administration or a qualified advisor.

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