Social Security survivor benefits strategy: divorce/remarry impact when collecting on ex-spouse vs. current SDI spouse

Wait, I'm confused - if you divorce your current husband, won't that reset the 10-year clock for him to claim survivior benefits on you? And I think there's a 2-year waiting period after remarriage before he can claim anything. This sounds REALLY risky for your current husband if you pass away during that window. Have you talked to anyone at SSA directly?

This is a complex situation! Let me share some important information: 1. If you claim at 62 and then pass away, your current husband would receive a REDUCED survivor benefit based on your early filing. The reduction is permanent. 2. If you divorce and remarry, you're correct that you can still collect on your ex's record when he passes (assuming the first marriage lasted 10+ years and your new marriage occurs after age 60). 3. However, divorcing resets the marriage duration clock for your current husband. He would need to be married to you for at least 9 months before your passing to qualify for survivor benefits on your record. 4. If your current husband's SSDI is lower than 82.5% of your PIA, he could potentially receive a disabled surviving spouse benefit while still in his 50s. Given the financial protection aspect for your current husband, Option B (waiting until your FRA) provides him the highest survivor benefit if you pass away first, but only if you remain married.

your overthinking this. just stay married and claim ur own SS then switch to ex's survivor when he passes. that SSDI amount ur husband gets should increase when he hits retirement age anyway. SSA never makes anything easy lol

Just went through something sorta similar with my mom. The divorce-remarry strategy is risky because your current husband would lose access to your survivor benefits during the divorce period and would need to rebuild the marriage duration requirements (9 months for survivors I think). I tried helping my mom call SSA about a complicated survivor situation and it was IMPOSSIBLE to get through. We kept getting disconnected after waiting 2+ hours. Finally used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got us connected to a rep in about 15 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU They connected us right away and the SSA rep was able to run all the different scenarios and tell us exactly what the benefit amounts would be. For something this complicated, you really need to talk to SSA directly to understand all the implications.

Based on my understanding of Social Security rules, there are a few issues with your plan that could backfire: 1) If you claim early at 62, your current husband's potential survivor benefit would be permanently reduced based on YOUR early claiming decision. The reduction would be roughly 30% less than if you had waited until FRA. 2) The divorce-remarry strategy creates a dangerous gap period where your current husband would have NO survivor benefit eligibility if you passed away during that time. 3) Even after remarriage, he would need to satisfy the 9-month marriage duration requirement before being eligible for survivor benefits on your record again. 4) There's also the Government Pension Offset (GPO) to consider if either of you have pensions from non-covered employment. The protection strategy that maximizes his potential survivor benefit would be to remain married and delay your claiming as long as possible to maximize the survivor benefit he'd receive.

To answer your follow-up question: No, you would NOT be eligible for divorced spouse survivor benefits from your ex if you remain married to your current husband. Being currently married disqualifies you from collecting divorced spouse benefits. This is the fundamental tradeoff you're facing: 1) Stay married = your current husband is protected with survivor benefits, but you cannot collect on your ex's record 2) Divorce = you can collect on your ex's record (if you remarry after 60), but your current husband loses protection during the gap and needs to rebuild eligibility There's no way to have both simultaneously under Social Security rules. This is why it's essential to speak directly with SSA about your specific situation.

Social Security rules are INCREDIBLY unfair to women!!! I was in a similar situation and ended up losing thousands in benefits because of remarriage timing. The system is designed to keep women financially dependent on men and punish us for our choices. It's DISGUSTING how they treat divorced women after decades of marriage. I hope you find a solution but don't expect SSA to be helpful - they just quote rulebooks without understanding real human situations.

After reading everyone's responses, I think I need to reconsider my approach. The risks to my current husband's financial security seem too great with the divorce-remarry strategy. I'm going to use that Claimyr service to connect with SSA and discuss my specific situation. Maybe there are options I haven't considered. Does anyone know if there's a financial advisor who specializes in these complex Social Security cases? I'm willing to pay for professional advice given how much money is at stake over our lifetimes.