Will my Social Security ex-spouse benefits be based on his claiming age 65 or work until 70?

Your ex-spouse benefit will be based on your ex-husband's Primary Insurance Amount (PIA), which is the benefit amount he was eligible for at his Full Retirement Age. It doesn't matter when he actually claimed benefits. The fact that he claimed at 65 (slightly early) or continued working until 70 doesn't directly affect your spousal benefit calculation. Since you're at your FRA, you're eligible for 50% of his PIA. However, you should also compare this to your own retirement benefit. You'll receive whichever is higher - your own benefit or the spousal benefit. You cannot receive both. Also, since you've reached your FRA, you can actually file a restricted application for just the spousal benefit while letting your own retirement benefit grow until 70 if you want to maximize your own benefit.

The previous commenter is partially correct but there's some important clarification needed. The rule allowing you to file a restricted application only applies if you were born before January 2, 1954. Since you're 66 and 4 months now in 2025, you were born around 1958-1959, so unfortunately that option is no longer available to you due to the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015. When you file for benefits now, you'll be deemed to be filing for all benefits you're eligible for (your own and ex-spouse), and you'll receive the higher of the two amounts. Your ex-spouse benefit would be 50% of his PIA (Primary Insurance Amount), regardless of when he claimed. His continued work may have increased his PIA through additional earnings, which could potentially increase your ex-spousal benefit. But there's a key point: if your own benefit is higher than 50% of his PIA, you'll just get your own benefit amount.

ugh the SSA is THE WORST about explaining this stuff clearly!! i went thru this exact same confusion last year with my ex. you literally CANNOT get a straight answer from their website and when you call? FORGET IT!!!! i spent TWO HOURS on hold only to get disconnected!!!!! twice!!!!! i had to finally make an in-person appointment which took 6 weeks to get. and guess what? the person there gave me DIFFERENT info than what the phone rep told me. they seriously need to train their people better.

just wanted to add that u dont need to contact ur ex at all. SSA has all his earnings records. just make appointment and tell them u want to know bout ex spouse benifits. they can look up his info in their system but they wont tell u his actual earnings just what ur eligible for based on his record. they did this for me last yr.

Wait I'm confused about something - if the ex-husband worked until 70, wouldn't those extra earnings potentially increase his PIA and thus increase the ex-spouse benefit? I thought the PIA gets recalculated with additional earnings years? My husband's PIA went up because he kept working past his FRA.

I went through this exact situation last year. What no one mentioned yet is that you need to bring your marriage certificate AND divorce decree when you go to your appointment. I didn't know this and had to reschedule my whole appointment which delayed my benefits by nearly 2 months!!! Also, in my case, my own benefit ended up being higher than the ex-spouse benefit anyway, even though my ex made WAY more than me during our marriage. This is because the ex-spouse benefit is only 50% of their PIA. Run the numbers before you get your hopes up too high.

The one thing nobody mentioned is that if you take your own benefit now and it turns out your ex-spouse benefit would've been higher, they will NOT retroactively give you the difference!!! They'll only adjust it going forward. I learned this the hard way and lost out on about $8,700 in benefits I could have gotten if I'd applied for both at the same time. The SSA DOES NOT VOLUNTEER THIS INFORMATION!!!!!

Update: I called SSA this morning to try to schedule an appointment and was told there's a 3-month wait for in-person appointments in my area! The phone representative wasn't able to tell me specifics about my situation without 'opening a claim' which she said I shouldn't do until I'm ready to actually file. This is so frustrating! I just want to know what my options are before making a decision.

another option u have is just file for benefits now. if u decide later that waiting woulda been better u can withdraw ur application within 12 months of filing. u have to pay back what they paid u but it's like an undo button. my sister did this when she realized she shoulda waited.

One more thing to consider: Since you're past your FRA, you should know that there's no advantage to waiting longer to claim ex-spousal benefits. Unlike your own retirement benefit, ex-spousal benefits don't grow with delayed retirement credits past your FRA. So if the ex-spousal benefit is going to be higher than your own benefit, you might as well claim now. But if your own benefit is higher, and especially if it's close, you might consider waiting until 70 to maximize your own benefit with delayed retirement credits (which grow about 8% per year until 70).