Most Men Don’t Know They Can Claim Social Security on an Ex-Wife’s Record. At 67, He Learned He Could, No Permission Needed.

The Assumption That Costs Men Money

He is 67, divorced after a 14-year marriage, and currently single. For years he assumed divorced-spouse Social Security was something only women claimed on a former husband’s record. His ex-wife earned more than he did during their marriage and well after, so he never gave a second thought to whether her work history could matter to his retirement. On a financial forum recently, a man in nearly the same situation posted that he had spent two years leaving money on the table because nobody, not even his accountant, had mentioned the option.

The rule is gender-neutral. A divorced man can claim on his ex-wife’s record under the same terms a divorced woman can claim on her ex-husband’s. He does not need her permission, does not need to tell her, and does not even need to know where she lives.

What Actually Qualifies Him

Three conditions decide whether a divorced-spouse benefit is available:

1. The marriage lasted at least 10 years.
2. He is currently unmarried (a later marriage that subsequently ended also clears this requirement).
3. He is at least 62.

He meets all three. The benefit is worth up to 50% of his ex-wife’s primary insurance amount (PIA), which is the figure she would receive at her own full retirement age (FRA). If her PIA is roughly $2,900, his divorced-spousal benefit tops out around $1,450 a month when he claims at his own FRA of 67. Claiming before FRA shrinks it permanently. Waiting past FRA does not grow it, because spousal benefits do not earn delayed retirement credits the way a worker’s own benefit does.

One more rule to know: if he is below FRA and still working, an earnings test applies. In 2026, Social Security reduces benefits by $1 for every $2 earned above $24,480. Once he reaches FRA, that test disappears entirely.

The Rule Most People Miss

The piece that surprises almost everyone is called the independently-entitled rule. When a couple has been divorced for at least two years, the ex-spouse does not have to have filed for her own benefit. She just has to be at least 62 and eligible. That exception does not exist for currently married couples, where one spouse must file before the other can collect a spousal benefit.

In practice, he can visit a Social Security office with his marriage certificate and divorce decree, ask to file on his ex-wife’s record, and the agency calculates the benefit from its own data. She is not notified. Her check does not shrink by a penny. Her current husband, if she has one, sees no change in his own spousal benefit. The system treats each claim as independent.

One post-publication development is worth noting here. The Social Security Fairness Act, signed into law on January 5, 2025, repealed both the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO). The GPO had previously reduced or eliminated divorced-spouse benefits for anyone receiving a government pension from employment not covered by Social Security. For divorced men whose ex-wives worked as teachers, police officers, firefighters, or other public-sector employees, that offset had sometimes wiped out the divorced-spouse benefit entirely. With the GPO gone, some of those men are now eligible for a benefit they were previously told they could not receive. As of mid-2025, the Social Security Administration had sent more than 3.1 million retroactive payments totaling $17 billion to affected beneficiaries.

How It Fits With His Own Benefit

Social Security pays the higher of a worker’s own retirement benefit or the spousal benefit, not a combination of both. If his own benefit at FRA works out to $1,700, he receives that amount and the divorced-spousal path becomes irrelevant. If his own benefit is closer to $1,100, the ex-wife’s record gives him roughly $350 more each month. That difference compounds over time, and the 2.8% cost-of-living adjustment that began in January 2026 lifts whichever benefit he receives a little further with each passing year.

Deemed filing matters here too. When he claims, Social Security treats him as filing for both his own retirement and the divorced-spousal benefit simultaneously, and pays the larger amount. He cannot collect one now and switch to the other later to time the math. The one genuine switch comes if his ex-wife dies first: a divorced-survivor benefit, worth up to 100% of her record, may then replace the spousal benefit he was receiving. Survivor benefits follow different rules and can be claimed separately from his own retirement benefit.

What He Should Do Before Filing

Two practical steps matter most. First, he should gather the marriage certificate and the divorce decree before contacting Social Security, since both are required to document the 10-year marriage and its legal end. Second, he should ask Social Security to calculate both benefits side by side, his own and the divorced-spousal amount, so the decision rests on real numbers rather than rough estimates.

The hardest mistake to undo is claiming his own retirement benefit early without knowing the divorced-spousal option existed. Once a reduced benefit locks in, that monthly figure follows him for life. Every situation has its own details, and a call to Social Security with the specific dates of marriage and divorce in hand is almost always time well spent.

Editor’s note: This article was updated to include the Social Security Fairness Act (signed January 5, 2025), which repealed the Government Pension Offset and may restore divorced-spouse benefits for those previously offset by a public-sector pension, as well as the confirmed 2.8% COLA for 2026 and the 2026 earnings test threshold of $24,480.

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