Eligible divorced individuals can receive spousal Social Security benefits without reducing their ex-partner’s payments, per program rules.
Divorced individuals aged 62 or older may qualify for up to 50% of their ex-spouse’s full Social Security retirement benefit. The claim does not reduce the ex-spouse’s monthly payments or affect benefits for a current spouse.
To qualify, the marriage must have lasted at least 10 years, the claimant must be unmarried, and the ex-spouse must be eligible for Social Security. Benefits are only paid if they exceed the claimant’s own earned benefit, as Social Security issues a single retirement payment.
The trend of “gray divorce”—divorces among those 50 and older—has risen sharply, doubling between 1990 and 2010. This shift has increased focus on retirement benefits tied to former spouses.