Q: I am 62 years old and divorced. My ex-husband and I were married 20 years, and I've only been working outside the home a few years because I stayed home with our children. Can I draw Social Security at 62? How will Social Security figure my benefits?
A: You can retire at 62 under at least three scenarios: If you will be drawing on your former husband's account and he is currently receiving retirement benefits, you can receive benefits.
If you are drawing solely on your own work record, you can receive benefits at age 62. If you are drawing on your former husband's work record, and he has not yet retired, he must have reached the age of 62 and you must have been divorced at least two years.
If you're eligible for both your own retirement benefits and for benefits as a former spouse, Social Security always pays your own benefits first. If your benefit as a former spouse is higher than your own retirement benefit, you'll get a combination of benefits equaling the higher benefit. A spouse receives one-half of the retired worker's full benefit unless the spouse begins collecting benefits before age 65, as you propose to do.
Early retirement will permanently reduce your benefit by a percentage based on the number of months in which you draw benefits before you reach 65. For example, if you begin collecting benefits at 62 36 months before you reach age 65, the benefit amount to which you'd be entitled would be about 37.5 percent of your former spouse's full benefit, assuming that your own retirement benefit is lower.
You said you were married 20 years, so you meet the additional requirement that you be married at least 10 years to be able to draw on your former husband's benefits. Your former husband must be 62 or older, that is, if your former husband is younger than you are, you must wait until he turns 62 to draw on his work record.
Also, you will lose his benefit if you remarry unless your former husband dies before your remarriage. (Interestingly enough, the amount of benefits you receive has no effect on the amount of benefits his current wife can get, should he remarry.) If you will be relying solely on your own work record, however, you will not be constrained by these rules.
As you can tell, calculating these benefits can be complicated. The Social Security Administration has an informative booklet titled "Retirement," which you can get at your local Social Security office or by calling SSA's toll-free number (800) 772-1213.
For other questions regarding rights of divorced spouses to support, you should contact your family lawyer or call the Kansas Elder Law Hotline (888) 353-5337.
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