Why On Earth Would An Ex Spouse Qualify For Half Of My Social Security Or Pension? (insurance, company)
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I hope you're right. My ex-husband remarried not long after we divorced, yet all the time during the divorce he was saying,"Ten years! Ten years!" (We were married 12 years and he kept saying he'd get my social security benefits because we had been married at least ten years.)
I've got a ways to go before I retire - when I get there, I'll think about it seriously.
I do think married 10 years and have not remarried, or you do not get the
spousal benefit of the ex. The Social Security does have a good web site to answer many of these questions. I do think, he needs, to have a good cry now!
What if the divorce is finally and you have been married for 10 years. and a year later he retierd and got his retierment money all rerady is she still legally intitled to half of the money.and he is remarried
He's not paying her out of his pocket. She gets the money directly from social security. He doesn't lose anything.
What if the divorce is finally and you have been married for 10 years. and a year later he retierd and got his retierment money all rerady is she still legally intitled to half of the money.and he is remarried
that all is in the divorce agreement, the S.S. is different, 10 years, and not remarried when you collect, if you do! Mostly now 2 people do work, but that
is how lawyers make the money.
He's not paying her out of his pocket. She gets the money directly from social security. He doesn't lose anything.
With my government pension, if we divorce then my pension drops immediately by 50% and she gets it. No lawyers are involved.
Now if she does go to court and if a judge does order alimony then that alimony does come from my check book.
Over the years, we have offered our couch to friends who have been divorced and the judges have ordered alimony which exceeded the guy's take home paycheck. Our dispersing office routinely redirects the guy's entire paycheck to his Ex, and sends him a notice for how much he still owes.
My last duty station was in Italy, a guy who worked for me became divorced. He stayed on our couch for a while, we finally passed a hat around for airfare to get him stateside in the hope that he could go before the judge to convince the court to lower the alimony to less than his total salary. The last I heard from him, his back alimony issue had caused his security clearances to be denied, and he was being discharged form service. The judge and that level of alimony ended the man's career.
From my perspective, as a stay at home mother, my husband's income supports the household. His money is OUR money. We chose for me to stay home to benefit our family, and each member of the family gets the benefit of my being here not working and collecting a paycheck.
If we got divorced, I would definitely take half his pension. It was OUR money that went in there. I would also feel entitled to half his SS if we divorced and I didn't remarry or work again. However me not working again would probably not be a possibility, I would probably work again and then collect my own SS from my own work. I am not sure, but I am probably eligible for my own SS now because I used to work before staying home with the kids, if not I am probably only a couple years short)
In any case, you are right about there being something wrong w/those percentages and the math involved..
If an ex spouse is collecting 50%, the spouse should also collect 50%, not 100%. And the current spouse getting 50% as well? That doesn't make any sense.
The total paid out should not add up to more than 100% in any case.
W/DH's info, he pays $6,000 per year to SS. Say he does this for 30 years, that would be $180,000. Considering a 3% interest rate, that brings his contribution to 300,000. He (or I) would collect that money (apparently $1400 per month) after 18 years at a rate of $1400 per month (even less if that amount goes up, I don't know what the maximum amount you can collect from SS).
Question: if the spouse never works, and the couple doesn't get divorced, do they BOTH collect a check? Or does the spouse only get a check if the working spouse dies?
If what you say is true that the individual, an ex spouse, and a spouse can all be collecting off SS, then using my DH as an example, me, him, and his new wife would collect all his money w/in 10 years. and the chances of me, him and his new wife living only 10 years past 62 is slim. So if we all live longer we would then be a drain on SS. And , hell this is assuming he works and contributes the whole 30 years! If he dies before then (like if I knocked him off for trading me in for a new model, lol, just kidding) he won't even finish putting in the 180K to start with!!!
No wonder SS is failing. Not to mention SSI which allows people who never put into the system to get payments.
But remember, they are not investing this money at a 3% interest rate. I don't know how much...but I know when you are talking big money...they are making much much more than that! Also, many people die prior to using all their benefits...so they continue to make interest on that too. If I'm wrong, somebody let me know!
I have a family member who was married 28 years, then divorced. When she calls SS they are not pleasant at all with her. Not in the least.......very intimitating.
She is only collecting a small sum on her own record. At one point they gave her an additional "$100"......Like " Here, I can give you just this!" Funny, I have not read this figure in any SS brochure.( she has never remarried)
Why won't they let her collect "half" of her Ex husbands SS? This would greatly improve her life...
No one is giving her the answers I seem to be finding on line and on websites.......
These people lack proper phone manners.....and they will not express to her that "yes" she can collect half of his SS ( which is way, way, more then on her own record)
What's up with their treatment of her? Something just doesn't sit well with this..........
SS should be as fair as possible of course. If the divorced not-remarried spouse was married only 10 years, they should not get 50% of the other spouse's SS when the other spouse contributed to SS for 30 years, say. Giveaways like 50% will doom SS in the long run.
Yeah, the laws ensure that marriage is a losing proposition for whichever spouse works harder/smarter. That's why it's so important for one to divorce ASAP a spouse who isn't contributing a full half to the relationship--not necessarily monetarily--& won't shape up.
A buddy of mine was married for 3 years. His wife worked as an ice cream scooper, and started gorging on the ice cream when they got hitched. While she was plumping up he was working his fanny off, eventually getting a 6-figure bonus at work. Long story short, she got a house free & clear after 3 years of scooping/eating ice cream. Even if he ignored her completely (wasn't the case), I don't think she deserved such windfall.
sorry guys - we deserve at the very least 1/2 of your pension!
knoxgarden - i have followed your posts on other forums - you are one smart lady - thanks for explaining this for those testoterdrones who get irritated that the ex-spouse (who often delayed her own professional career to raise his children) might actually get some repayment.
Women are generally hurt in their earning power because of caregiver responsibilities, both for children and elderly parents. Retirement is seldom as fruitful for women as for men and women generally suffer financially more after divorce than men. Buck up, guys - you aren't the source of all troubles but society's structure has zapped women far more than you guys and as a female, it pisses me off.
Quote:
Originally Posted by knoxgarden
There's more to it than that. Getting half applies only if the divorced spouse isn't eligible to receive SS benefits based on his or her own work credits. They get half the ex-spouses benefits or their own, whichever is larger.
If they remarry and are still married when retired, then they can no longer collect on the first spounses SS. However, if they divorce the second spouse, they again become eligible to collect from the first spouse's SS. But again, only if it is larger than benefits they earn from their own work credits or what they would get from the second marriage.
SS looks at all the possible ways you can collect and lets you use the one that gives you the most income. But only one. You don't get spouses benefits in addition to your own.
(This came up on Suze Orman's show last night. That was her explanation.)
This is designed for stay-at-home partners who never worked outside the home or who put their own careers on hold to raise a family and then get dumped after years of marriage. Having one partner stay at home means the other one didn't have to pay for childcare, housework, cooking, etc. It's compensation for that. The same with splitting a pension. It's a marital asset.
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sorry guys - we deserve at the very least 1/2 of your pension!
Retirement is seldom as fruitful for women as for men and women generally suffer financially more after divorce than men. Buck up, guys - you aren't the source of all troubles but society's structure has zapped women far more than you guys and as a female, it pisses me off. 
