{"id":2689,"date":"2019-06-06T06:29:35","date_gmt":"2019-06-06T13:29:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/springwaterwealth.com\/?p=2689"},"modified":"2019-06-06T06:29:35","modified_gmt":"2019-06-06T13:29:35","slug":"divorce-and-your-social-security-benefits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/springwaterwealth.com\/divorce-and-your-social-security-benefits\/","title":{"rendered":"Divorce and Your Social Security Benefits"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>For millions of Americans, Social Security forms the foundation of their retirement. For many, the benefit from Social Security comprises more than half their retirement income.<\/p>\n<p>From its creation during the administration of President Franklin Roosevelt, Social Security has given spouses and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssa.gov\/planners\/retire\/divspouse.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ex-spouses<\/a> a claiming right to retirement benefits. For those who are among the tens of millions who are divorced as they near retirement, it\u2019s critical to understand the nuances of the Social Security system, and how they can maximize their benefit.<\/p>\n<p>Depending on their circumstances, divorced Social Security beneficiaries can receive either:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cretired worker\u201d benefits, which are based on the individual\u2019s own <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssa.gov\/planners\/credits.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">covered earnings<\/a> history;<\/li>\n<li>\u201cauxiliary\u201d benefits, which are determined by a living or deceased former spouse\u2019s covered earnings history; or<\/li>\n<li>a combination of both.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So, a divorced retiree\u2019s Social Security retirement benefit depends not only on their own earnings history, but also to a large extent on their marital history and the earnings histories of previous spouses. Furthermore, a divorced person with multiple marriages could receive an auxiliary benefit from any of their former spouses.<\/p>\n<p>Although a person might describe themselves as divorced, at retirement they may receive a divorced spouse benefit, a surviving divorced spouse benefit, or a widow(er) benefit from Social Security.<\/p>\n<p>The following flowchart can help you navigate the complexities of claiming Social Security as (an advisor to) a divorced retiree.<\/p>\n<p>Before claiming Social Security, you should consider consulting a qualified tax advisor or financial planner.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/springwaterwealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/am-i-eligible-for-social-security-if-im-divorced-2019-2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/springwaterwealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/am-i-eligible-for-social-security-if-im-divorced-2019-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"2189\" height=\"1693\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2690\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>PLEASE SEE<\/strong>\u00a0important disclosure information at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/springwaterwealth.com\/blog-disclosure\/\">www.springwaterwealth.com\/blog-disclosure\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For millions of Americans, Social Security forms the foundation of their retirement. For many, the benefit from Social Security comprises more than half their retirement income. From its creation during the administration of President Franklin Roosevelt, Social Security has given spouses and ex-spouses a claiming right to retirement benefits. For those who are among the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2693,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[49,66,117,126],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/springwaterwealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2689"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/springwaterwealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/springwaterwealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/springwaterwealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/springwaterwealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/springwaterwealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2689\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/springwaterwealth.com\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/springwaterwealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/springwaterwealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/springwaterwealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}