Orange County Divorce and Social Security Benefits
I read an interesting article today discussing the complications of divorce and social security benefits. Social security is the primary source of income for 72% of unmarried retirees, most of who are single because they are divorced. In California, federal preemption precludes treatment of social security benefits as community property. Social security must be treated as the employee's separate property. Marriage of Hillerman (1980) 109 CA3d 334, 345. Despite the forgoing, a party may qualify for "derivative benefits" (benefits earned through the former spouse's employment) so long as the duration of the marriage, measured to the date of the parties' marital status is terminated, is at least 10 years.
In other words, if you were married for at least 10 years (status is terminated on or before the 10 year mark) to someone who paid into the Social Security system, you are entitled to a spousal benefit, even if you are divorced from that person. Eligibility does not depend on whether or not you also worked and paid into the system.
Spousal benefits, if claimed at your full retirement age, usually amount to 50% of the wage earner's full benefit. If you claim benefits early, the amount you get is reduced.
If you worked for 10 years and paid into the Social Security system, you also may be entitled to benefits on your own work record. If that is the case you must choose to obtain social security from your own work record or your spouse's -- you cannot claim both. You can, however, claim the one that gives you the most money.
Remarry before age 60
If you remarry before age 60, you lose your ability to claim spousal or survivor benefits based on a former spouse, a communications director at the Social Security Administration says. If you remarry after age 60, all of your rights to spousal and survivor benefits based on your former spouse's record are retained for your lifetime.
Multiple Spousal Benefits
If you are single now but were married to more than one person for more than 10 years each, you may be eligible for spousal benefits based on the earnings records of each of those former spouses.
You do not get to obtain all of the benefits, of course, but you do get to choose the benefit that works best for your situation. So, if one spouse was an executive with maximum Social Security earnings, the next spouse was a low-wage earner and the third worked in a job that didn't earn Social Security credits, you can claim the benefit from the first spouse, which is likely to amount to the most money.
Such social security issues can sometimes get complex. This is why if these issues come up in your divorce, hiring an Orange County divorce lawyer can make these issues feel less daunting.
