A divorced spouse can collect Social Security on an ex’s work record, and the payment does not come out of what the ex or the ex’s new husband or wife receives. Social Security’s retirement benefits guide says a former spouse qualifies when the marriage lasted at least 10 years. The claimant must be 62 or older and unmarried.
The rule matters most to people who spent a decade or more raising a family or running a household while the other spouse built the earnings history. In that case the work record sits on the ex’s side of the ledger, and the divorce does not erase the claim. The agency’s family benefits page lists ex-spouses alongside spouses, children and some grandchildren as people who may be eligible.
Who counts as a divorced spouse?
Three conditions apply, and the retirement guide spells out each one. The marriage lasted at least 10 years, the former spouse is 62 or older, and the former spouse is unmarried. The agency’s Who can get Family benefits page repeats the 10-year test for ex-spouses.
For a divorced reader asking whether a claim on the ex’s record is possible, and whether it beats the reader’s own benefit, those three checks come first. A marriage that ran 10 years or longer, with no remarriage since, clears the first and third. Someone who has remarried does not meet the unmarried test as the agency words it, and a marriage shorter than 10 years does not meet the length test.
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Does the ex’s check get smaller?
No. The retirement guide says the benefits a divorced spouse gets “don’t affect the amount you or your current spouse can get.” The ex’s monthly payment stays whatever the ex’s own earnings record produces, and a new husband or wife’s spouse benefit is not trimmed to make room.
The same principle holds for survivors. Social Security’s Understanding the Benefits booklet says benefits paid to an ex-spouse won’t affect other survivors receiving benefits on the worker’s earnings record. A widow or widower and a former spouse each draw from the same record without reducing the other.
How big is the divorced-spouse check?
The family benefits page says a qualifying family member “could get up to half” of the worker’s benefit amount. The Office of the Chief Actuary says the current spouse benefit is based on 50 percent of the other spouse’s primary insurance amount, the benefit payable at full retirement age. “Up to” is the operative phrase, because half of the ex’s benefit is a ceiling.
Timing also moves the number. Full retirement age is 67 for anyone born in 1960 or later, and the guide’s example says a retirement benefit started at 62 in 2026 comes out about 30% lower than it would at 67. On a person’s own record, the agency adds 8% for each full year of delay up to age 70.
Is 62 the right age to start?
Because half of the ex’s benefit is a ceiling and a person’s own record may pay more or less, the choice at 62 is a comparison, not a formality. Social Security’s retirement guide gives the rules for each record, but the answer depends on the claimant’s own benefit estimate set against up to 50 percent of the ex’s.
The agency’s rules leave one question for each divorced reader to settle before filing: whether the ex’s record, the claimant’s own, or a later start on either produces the larger monthly check over the years ahead.
The family benefits page adds one more reason to check the ex’s record: a family member who qualifies “may be eligible for Medicare based on their work history.” For a divorced spouse with a thin earnings record of their own, that Medicare link can matter as much as the monthly check, and both come from the same 10-year marriage.
Which record pays a divorced spouse more?
A divorced spouse who files at 62 on the wrong record can lock in a check that is roughly 30% lower than the one waiting at 67, and Social Security’s own booklets do not run the comparison between an ex’s record and a person’s own.
The Social Security Claiming & Family Benefits Kit puts that comparison on paper. It includes spousal and survivor sequencing worksheets and a claiming calculator (Excel) for claiming age, break-even and survivor benefits, and Part 5 is devoted to spousal and divorced-spouse benefits.
Get the divorced-spouse claiming calculator and worksheets in the Claiming Kit →
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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
