{"id":60484,"date":"2025-02-01T21:49:38","date_gmt":"2025-02-02T02:49:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/?p=60484"},"modified":"2025-02-01T21:50:32","modified_gmt":"2025-02-02T02:50:32","slug":"about-social-security-benefits-for-someone-with-multiple-ex-spouses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/2025\/02\/about-social-security-benefits-for-someone-with-multiple-ex-spouses\/","title":{"rendered":"About Social Security Benefits for Someone with Multiple Ex-spouses"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>If a financially well-off individual had multiple ex-spouses, could it happen that the multiple ex-spouses could each be collecting Social Security based on their own financial situation as compared to their rich ex-spouses? Thus, multiple payouts by SS? Just curious, because there are probably many people in this situation as a result of the ever-increasing number of people involved in multiple marriages that each lasted more than ten years.<strong>&nbsp;<em>Signed: Curious Ex-Spouse<\/em>&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"644\" src=\"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/221012161012-02-social-security-check-file-1024x644.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-55845\" style=\"width:458px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/221012161012-02-social-security-check-file-1024x644.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/221012161012-02-social-security-check-file-300x189.jpg 300w, https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/221012161012-02-social-security-check-file-768x483.jpg 768w, https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/221012161012-02-social-security-check-file-1536x967.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Dear Curious Ex-Spouse:<\/em><\/strong><strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>A former spouse can only collect one SS benefit \u2013 either their own SS retirement amount, or an amount as an ex-spouse if the marriage lasted 10 years or more. And it is possible for multiple ex-spouses of a marriage to the same person to qualify for benefits from those unions, if each marriage lasted at least 10 years.&nbsp;But each ex-spouse can only qualify for one benefit payment \u2013 either their own earned SS benefit, or their benefit as an ex-spouse. In other words, someone with two (or more) ex-spouses might have their ex\u2019s collecting full benefits on their record, provided that each marriage lasted at least 10 years. But an ex-spouse can only get one benefit \u2013their own SS retirement amount or an ex-spouse amount &#8211; whichever is higher).&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s possible, also, that an ex-spouse can collect benefits from a former spouse at the same time as a current spouse is also collecting spouse benefits on the same record. And there is no detriment to either\u2019s amount because multiple spouses or ex-spouses are collecting on a one person\u2019s SS record (Social Security is, after all, a means for spouses, or ex-spouses, to avoid poverty). However, an ex-spouse\u2019s own SS retirement benefit (from their personal lifetime work record) must be less than any ex-spouse benefit they are entitled to from a former spouse. Essentially, if the \u201c10-years-married\u201d rule is satisfied, ex-spouses are subject to the same benefit rules as a current spouse.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You are correct that we see some cases like this these days, but each eligible ex-spouse can only get one benefit, and their ex-spouse benefit is always offset by any personal SS retirement benefit the ex-spouse may also be entitled to on their own lifetime work record.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If a financially well-off individual had multiple ex-spouses, could it happen that the multiple ex-spouses could each be collecting Social Security based on their own financial situation as compared to&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":55845,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2969],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60484"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60484"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60485,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60484\/revisions\/60485"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}