Can my ex-spouse claim Social Security benefits from my record if they never paid into SS?

The good news is that your ex-spouse claiming benefits on your record won't reduce your own retirement benefits at all. However, there are several requirements for an ex-spouse to claim on your record: 1) Your marriage lasted at least 10 years 2) Your ex has not remarried 3) Your ex is at least 62 years old 4) You are entitled to benefits yourself (though you don't necessarily need to be collecting yet) 5) The benefit your ex would receive on their own record (if any) is less than what they'd receive on your record The tricky part in your situation is the Government Pension Offset (GPO). Since your ex-husband receives a pension from work where he didn't pay into Social Security, any spousal or ex-spousal benefits he might qualify for would be reduced by 2/3 of his government pension amount. This often eliminates the entire Social Security benefit for people in his situation.

my brotherinlaw tried to do this and cudnt get anythng becuz of GPO its really unfair

To expand on what others have said, your ex-husband would almost certainly be affected by the Government Pension Offset (GPO). The formula is fairly straightforward: any Social Security spousal/survivor benefit is reduced by two-thirds of the government pension. Let's say your ex would qualify for $1,000 monthly as an ex-spouse benefit based on your record. If his government pension is $4,800/month, the GPO reduction would be $3,200 (2/3 of $4,800), which completely eliminates the $1,000 potential benefit. Worth noting - the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) is different and wouldn't apply in this case. WEP affects a person's own Social Security benefits if they also receive a pension from non-covered work. GPO affects spousal/survivor benefits when the person receives a government pension from non-covered work. You can find more details about GPO on the SSA website: https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/gpo-calc.html

The other comments covered the technical aspects really well, but I wanted to add something important: your benefits are completely protected regardless of what your ex does. Even if he somehow qualifies for ex-spouse benefits (which sounds unlikely due to GPO), it has ZERO impact on your benefit amount. This is a common misunderstanding people have about the Social Security system. Your ex filing on your record doesn't reduce your benefits AT ALL.

I spent THREE DAYS trying to reach someone at Social Security about my ex claiming on my record!!! Every time I called I was on hold for over 2 hours and then got disconnected. The website was NO help at all for my specific situation. Finally I found this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me connected to an actual SSA rep in under 20 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU. The agent explained everything about ex-spouse benefits and GPO, totally worth it to get real answers instead of stressing for weeks!

BOTH of my parents worked for state government and neither one could get spousal benefits because of that stupid GPO rule!! Dad paid into Social Security for 12 years before switching to state employment, but that didn't matter. The system is RIGGED against public servants who dedicated their careers to helping others. The GPO and WEP rules need to be ABOLISHED!!!

I think i had a similar situation but opposite... i worked and paid into SS but my ex was a teacher with a pension. When we divorced after 22 years i tried to claim on her record and got denied. So confusing!

Thank you all for the helpful explanations! I feel much better now understanding that my benefits won't be affected regardless of what my ex tries to do. And it sounds like because of the GPO, he probably wouldn't qualify for anything on my record anyway with his pension being so substantial. I appreciate everyone taking the time to explain all the technical details - Social Security rules are so complicated!