Social Security for Divorced Spouses: The 10-Year Rule (2026)
A divorce does not erase a decade of marriage from Social Security's memory. If your marriage lasted at least ten years, you may be entitled to a monthly benefit based on your ex-spouse's earnings record — even if you never worked, even if your ex has remarried, and in some cases even if your ex has not filed yet. It is one of the most valuable and least understood benefits in the system.
The 10-Year Rule: Five Tests You Must Pass
Eligibility for divorced-spouse retirement benefits comes down to five conditions, and you must meet all of them:
| Test | What it requires |
|---|---|
| Marriage length | At least 10 years, measured from the wedding date to the date the divorce was finalized. Ten years minus one day does not qualify. |
| Your age | At least 62 (unless caring for the ex's child under 16 or a disabled child, which waives the age minimum). |
| Marital status | Currently unmarried. Remarriage generally ends eligibility — see the exceptions below. |
| Your ex's status | At least 62 and eligible for retirement or disability benefits (enough work credits). They do not need to have filed — see the two-year rule. |
| Benefit comparison | Your own retirement benefit must be smaller than the divorced-spouse amount. Social Security pays whichever is higher. |
Meet all five and the benefit is yours to claim. Miss any one — a nine-year marriage, a remarriage, an ex who never earned enough credits — and the door stays closed.
How Much You Get: Up to 50% of Your Ex's Full Benefit
The divorced-spouse benefit follows the same formula as the spousal benefit for married couples: up to 50% of your ex's primary insurance amount (their benefit at full retirement age) — payable in full only if you wait until your own full retirement age to claim it.
Claim earlier and the benefit shrinks permanently, on the same reduction schedule as retirement benefits. For someone with a full retirement age of 67:
| Your claim age | Divorced-spouse benefit (FRA 67) |
|---|---|
| 62 (earliest) | ~32.5% of ex's full benefit |
| 65 | ~41.7% of ex's full benefit |
| 67 (your FRA) | 50% of ex's full benefit — the maximum |
| After your FRA | Still 50% — spousal benefits earn no delayed credits |
Three fine points matter here. First, the 50% is based on your ex's benefit at their full retirement age — it does not include any delayed retirement credits if they waited until 70, and it is not reduced if they claimed early. Second, unlike your own retirement benefit, a divorced-spouse benefit stops growing at your FRA; there is no reason to delay the spousal claim past that point. Third, the claim costs your ex nothing: it does not reduce their check, their current spouse's spousal benefit, or anyone else's. Multiple people can draw spousal benefits on the same earnings record simultaneously.
Your Ex Does Not Need to Have Filed: The Two-Year Rule
For married couples, a spouse generally cannot claim until the worker files. Divorced spouses get a more generous rule: if you have been divorced for at least two continuous years, you can file on your ex's record as soon as they are 62 — even if they have not applied for a dime of their own benefits. Your ex still needs to be eligible (enough work credits to qualify), but they do not need to be collecting.
This rule exists precisely because you cannot control — and may not even know — your ex's claiming plans. You also do not need their permission or cooperation: the application is between you and Social Security, and your ex is not notified when you file. If you have been divorced less than two years, you must wait until your ex actually files.
Remarriage Ends It — With Two Big Exceptions
This is the rule that catches the most people off guard: remarrying generally terminates your right to divorced-spouse benefits on a living ex's record. It does not matter that the ten-year marriage happened; the new marriage replaces the old one for benefit purposes, and you would look to your new spouse's record instead (after the usual one-year marriage requirement for current spouses).
But there are two important exceptions:
- If the later marriage ends — through divorce, annulment, or your new spouse's death — your eligibility on the earlier ex's record can come back, provided the ten-year requirement was met. Social Security will pay the highest benefit you qualify for across the marriages, one at a time.
- Survivor benefits play by looser rules. If your ex dies, remarriage after age 60 (or after 50 if you are disabled) does not block surviving divorced spouse benefits. Remarrying at 59 would; waiting until 60 preserves the claim.
If you had more than one ten-year marriage, you can choose which ex's record to claim on — Social Security pays the highest amount you are eligible for, but you cannot stack two ex-spouse benefits at once.
Deemed Filing Killed the Old "Claim One, Grow the Other" Trick
You may still hear decade-old advice about filing a "restricted application" for only the divorced-spouse benefit while letting your own retirement benefit grow with delayed credits until 70. For virtually everyone retiring today, that strategy is dead. The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 extended deemed filing to everyone born after January 1, 1954: when you apply for any retirement benefit, Social Security treats you as applying for all benefits you are eligible for — your own plus any divorced-spouse benefit — and pays the higher of the two (technically, your own benefit plus a spousal top-up to reach the higher level).
The practical consequence: you cannot take your ex's benefit at 62 and switch to your own larger benefit at 70. You get one combined payment based on whichever record pays more at the age you file. The one surviving loophole is that deemed filing does not apply to survivor benefits — if your ex dies, you can take a reduced surviving divorced spouse benefit early and switch to your own retirement benefit at 70, or vice versa, optimizing each independently.
If Your Ex Dies: Surviving Divorced Spouse Benefits
Survivor benefits for divorced spouses are substantially more generous than the retirement benefit — up to 100% of your ex's benefit, including any delayed retirement credits they earned. The requirements: a ten-year marriage, you are at least 60 (or 50 if disabled), and you are unmarried — or remarried only after age 60 (50 if disabled).
You can claim as early as 60, but the benefit is reduced for early filing — at 60 it pays about 71.5% of the full survivor amount. Waiting until your survivor full retirement age (66 to 67 depending on birth year) gets you the full 100%. Because survivor benefits are exempt from deemed filing, they pair well with strategy: a widow or widower can draw the survivor benefit first and let their own retirement benefit grow to 70, collecting the best of both records in sequence.
This is also where the higher earner's claiming age echoes after death: if your ex delayed to 70, the survivor benefit you inherit includes those credits. Our guide on Social Security for married couples explains how survivor benefits work in detail, and the same mechanics apply to surviving divorced spouses.
Run Your Own Numbers
Divorced-spouse benefits change the claiming math in ways rules of thumb miss. A smaller personal earnings record paired with a large ex-spouse benefit can flip the usual "delay to 70" advice — or reinforce it, if the survivor benefit is the real prize. Plug your ex's estimated benefit and your own into our Social Security Break-Even Calculator to compare claiming ages on your actual numbers rather than guessing.