The biggest Social Security changes in 30 years are in effect immediately and directly impact all divorcing people in the U.S.
Social Security rules for claiming benefits, especially spousal benefits, have been dramatically changed by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, which was signed November 2, 2015. These changes became effective immediately, and everyone is scrambling to understand them.
This was all done with virtually no advance notice and no public government review or congressional hearings. Explanations have been scarce. The changes will directly impact how both spouses in a divorce negotiate for maintenance or alimony and how they anticipate future income from Social Security benefits.
In the past, ex-spouses were able to anticipate making independent decisions regarding when they would file for Social Security benefits. Being divorced, they each had their own individual qualifications to meet for filing a claim: age, marital status, benefit entitlements, etc. If an ex-spouse wanted to file a claim based on a worker’s benefit, the ex-spouse could do so without consideration of the worker’s filing status. That has changed. Under the new rules, a worker must be actively collecting benefits in order for an ex-spouse to be able to collect a spousal benefit based on the worker’s benefit.
This is a significant change. Perhaps it is in the worker’s best interest to delay benefits until age 70 so as to maximize their own benefit. That means the ex-spouse must also wait until the worker collects benefits. However, there is no monetary benefit to the spouse to wait, since their benefit will not increase beyond the worker’s Full Retirement Age (FRA) benefit, which may have been at the worker’s age 66. The spousal (or ex-spousal) benefit is equal to 50% of the worker’s FRA benefit, adjusted for reductions if the ex-spouse is under their own FRA.
Negotiating trade-offs in Social Security claiming strategies just became part of your divorce negotiations. Such trade-offs have associated costs to each party and will need to be compensated with other assets of the marital estate.
As part of the negotiations, the exact birth dates of each party will need to be taken into consideration and their respective FRAs aligned. This is complicated by the tiered levels of FRAs for persons born between the years 1954 and 1960. FRAs are at two-month intervals (66 yrs. and 2 mos., 66 yrs. and 4 mos., etc.) up to age 67.
Determining the FRA of each party is the first step, then each must commit to a time for collecting Social Security benefits. Hence, the negotiation. These terms should then be specified in the Marital Dissolution Agreement (MDA). Future enforcement of these terms will be similar to enforcement of all other terms of the MDA.
Another aspect of the new rules are that an ex-spouse is completely at the mercy of the worker spouse regarding the availability of benefits. The worker spouse can actually block the ex-spouse from receiving much needed benefits by simply not collecting benefits themselves. This is not a favorable situation, given the continued animosities that occur between some ex-spouses.
In all instances, discuss these issues with your attorney during your divorce. If they are not familiar with these new rules, find someone who is. Financial professionals who have a specialty in the financial issues of divorce should also be able to help you understand how – and if – the new rules might affect you.
Women who will be 62 and women who will reach full retirement age prior to May 1, 2016 may be affected by these changes. Very important to talk with someone so you don’t lose out on benefits.
Diane Aksten, CPA, NSSA®
Social Security rules are so numerous and so unfair that no one wins. Not even the workers know all of them. Everyone gets cheated and some get blamed for it. They are not based on individual circumstances in any of the cases and if you don’t fit in you just fall through the cracks and watch others have a blast.
What happens to the former spouse, who is already collecting, despite the worker spouse still working? Will this piece of legislation be retro-active? And, if settlement agreements already discussed this issue in determining length of time for alimony, will this piece of legislation count as a Change of Circumstance? Many who I know will work well past 70, if there health prevails, in an effort to “get even”.
My ex-husband was born on January 24th 1948. I was born on December 1st 1953. It was my intention to take half of his benefits at age 66 and continue working until 68, but delay my benefits until I reach the age of 70. Does this new law have any affects to this strategy?
Also should an ex-Spouse die before you and has remarried, can I claim survivor benefits? I was married for 25 years
This article has some significant errors in it. An ex-spouse is not required to wait until the “worker spouse” begins collecting benefits before she or he may collect spousal benefits. The statement “The worker spouse can actually block the ex-spouse from receiving much needed benefits by simply not collecting benefits themselves” is patently untrue. Under the law, once the “worker spouse” attains minimum retirement age (currently age 62) and the ex-spouse also attains minimum retirement age, the ex-spouse may begin collecting benefits regardless if the “worker spouse” is collecting. This part of the Social Security law was not changed by the 2015 Budget Act. What did change was the ability to file restricted Social Security applications, whereby beneficiaries born after January 1, 1954 are no longer allowed to apply for spousal benefits while postponing collecting their own benefits until after FRA in order to take advantage of the delayed retirement credits. In addition, beneficiaries may no longer file and suspend on their own record. Neither provision changes gives the “worker spouse” control over when the ex-spouse may collect benefits.
This article is 100% accurate for the time at which it was written, as per the legislation, as it was originally passed. It was writings like this, and many others, that gave voice to our outrage and caused the subsequent modification in the following months, whereby ex-spouses were not limited by what the worker spouse did with their own claim. Essentially a reversal to the way it had been before this terrible new legislation. Your welcome.