Social InSecurity

My husband(s) left me (8 of them did); I’m a starving artist.  Will I end up a poor lady?
La La Gabor, Hollywood

La La:  There is hope for you. If you stayed married with any one of your men for 10 years, you can receive Social  Security benefits as early as age 62 if you are unmarried.

But Conrad Bilton, that rat, he remarried.

Doesn’t matter.  As long as ex is eligible for benefits, you may file, even if he has not.  However, you are only eligible to collect half of his benefit and only if that number exceeds your benefit.  Sorry if it’s confusing — and I know you are 99 1/2.

I got it. And by the way, Mensch, I misspoke. I was only divorced 7 times.  The other one was annulled! Now, if I had knocked off Connie while we were married, what kind of “survivor benefits” would I have received?

Now you’re talking La La! You can collect on his earnings as early as age 60 (age 50 if you are disabled; anytime if you are caring for a dependent under the age of 16.) However, if you can wait until you attain your spouse’s “full retirement age”, (66 or 67 depending on his/her date of birth), you can collect 100% of his or her benefits rather than losing up to 30% because you started collecting earlier.

Hell, even if you divorced him you can still collect full survivor benefits, but again, you need to have been married for at least ten years. (still married when your spouse passes? You may collect survivor benefits if you were wed just nine months or longer.)

Yes — we can help sort out your issues and we work with real pros on this stuff.

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