A divorced person does not always have to wait for an ex-spouse to retire before collecting Social Security on that ex’s record. A divorced spouse who was married for 10 years, is unmarried now, and is 62 or older can be paid on an ex who has not filed, as long as the divorce has been final for two years and the ex is also 62 or older.

Social Security’s own booklet, Retirement Benefits 2026, says a divorced spouse can receive benefits “even if” the worker has not started retirement benefits. For people who have been waiting years on an ex to file, that can change the timing of their whole retirement plan.

What counts as a qualifying marriage

The federal regulation on divorced spouses, 20 CFR 404.331, sets the conditions. The marriage must have lasted at least 10 years immediately before the divorce became final. The person claiming must be age 62 or older and must not be married.

The 10-year test is about the length of the marriage, not how long ago it ended. Social Security’s family benefits page says ex-spouses who were married for at least 10 years may be eligible, and it is the free place to start for anyone unsure whether a marriage counts.

Anyone who is divorced, 62 or older and single, and whose marriage ran 10 years or longer, can check the ex’s side next: the ex’s age, and whether the ex has filed. The answer to those two questions decides whether the two-year rule applies. A new marriage ends the “unmarried” condition, so the date of any remarriage can change the answer too.

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Why the ex does not have to file

Normally a spouse’s benefit waits for the worker to apply. For divorced spouses, Social Security’s operating manual lays out a separate route. A divorced spouse can be independently entitled when the divorce has been final for at least two continuous years and the worker is a fully insured person age 62, even if the worker has not applied.

Put plainly, two things have to be true on the ex’s side. The ex is 62 or older, and the ex has earned enough work credits to be insured. Nothing in the rule requires the ex to have applied.

The regulation ties the two-year wait to the case where the ex is not yet collecting. If the ex is already drawing retirement or disability benefits, the divorced spouse does not have to wait out the two years. That is why the headline rule is aimed at the ex who has not filed.

How much a divorced spouse can collect

Social Security says a full spouse’s benefit can be up to one-half of the amount the worker is eligible to receive, and that the maximum stays at 50 percent of the worker’s full retirement age benefit even if the worker waits and earns delayed credits. Claiming before full retirement age shrinks the amount.

The booklet adds that what a divorced spouse receives does not affect the amount the worker or the worker’s current spouse can get. The ex does not lose anything because of the claim.

People with a work record of their own are paid that benefit first. The same Social Security page says anyone eligible for both must apply for both and receives a combined amount equal to the higher spouse’s amount. As the agency’s example puts it, a person with a $1,000 benefit of their own and a $1,250 spouse’s benefit receives $1,250 in total, with $250 added from the spousal side.

Four conditions to line up before applying

• The marriage lasted at least 10 years before the divorce was final.
• The person claiming is 62 or older and is not married.
• The ex is 62 or older and has enough work credits.
• If the ex has not filed, the divorce has been final for at least two continuous years.

Social Security’s blog says people who are at least 61 years and 9 months old can start an application on the agency’s website, and points to the family benefits page for the divorced-spouse specifics.

The regulation words the age condition carefully: the person must be 62 or older throughout a month in which every other condition is met. In practice, that means the first month a benefit can be paid is the first full month in which the marriage length, the unmarried status, the two years and the ex’s age all line up. A person who is 62 but divorced only 18 months is not there yet.

Anyone close to a threshold, such as an anniversary of the divorce date or the ex’s 62nd birthday, can count forward from the date the divorce decree became final. The decree date, not the date the couple separated, is what the calculation uses.

Waiting for an ex to file may not be necessary

Plenty of divorced people assume nothing can happen until the ex retires, then put off a claim for years. Under the regulation and the manual, a divorced spouse who meets the 10-year, unmarried, 62-or-older and two-year conditions can be paid while the ex is still working.

What remains is the decision itself. Claiming at 62 pays less than waiting for full retirement age, and a person with their own record may come out ahead by letting that record grow. The rules say who can claim, and they do not say when claiming makes sense.

Divorced after 10 years and wondering if now is the time to claim on an ex?

Meeting the 10-year, unmarried and two-year tests settles whether a divorced spouse can claim. It does not settle when. Claiming at 62 locks in a smaller check than waiting for full retirement age, and that smaller check can follow a person for life.

The Social Security Claiming & Family Benefits Kit includes a claiming calculator (Excel) for claiming age, break-even and survivor benefits, plus spousal and survivor sequencing worksheets. Its Part 5 is built around spousal and divorced-spouse benefits.

Get the divorced-spouse sequencing worksheets and claiming calculator →

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• 15 Ways Retirees Are Tapping a Record $14.9 Trillion in Home Equity

This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.