Divorce for SSI

[ichiman]

My wife was married to her Ex-husband for 19 years.
We have been married for 21 years and are getting close to retirement years.
My wife is 3 years older than me and 14 years younger than her Ex.
Her Ex earned 3 to 4 times as much as me and retired at more than full qualifying age.
We are thinking of getting a divorce so she could collect on her Ex-husbands SS but are not sure if this is the best option for us.
We would remain together, just without the paper. We truly love and trust each other!
My wife was always a stay at home mom and has no SS of her own.
Sorry if this is in the wrong forum, I didn't know where else to post it.
Thanks in advance for any info.

 

[Proserpina]

My wife was married to her Ex-husband for 19 years.
We have been married for 21 years and are getting close to retirement years.
My wife is 3 years older than me and 14 years younger than her Ex.
Her Ex earned 3 to 4 times as much as me and retired at more than full qualifying age.
We are thinking of getting a divorce so she could collect on her Ex-husbands SSI but are not sure if this is the best option for us.
We would remain together, just without the paper. We truly love and trust each other!
My wife was always a stay at home mom and has no SSI of her own.
Sorry if this is in the wrong forum, I didn't know where else to post it.
Thanks in advance for any info.

I suggest you read this: http://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/divspouse.html

How... sweet you both are for wanting to even try this.

 

[LdiJ]

I suggest you read this: http://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/divspouse.html

How... sweet you both are for wanting to even try this.

I find it a bit dismaying, but attorneys who specialize in social security consider something like that to be valid strategizing...particularly for people who are apt to be very low income as retirees.

 

[commentator]

Well, at least, for goodness sake, call it by the right name. If your wife draws from her ex husband, it will be social security retirement benefits. It will NOT be SSI, which is supplemental security income which is for the low income who have no one to draw from and have not accumulated enough wage credits to draw social security retirement. SSI is based entirely on your income, and you must be low income to receive it, while social security retirement from an ex spouse might be more and has no income stipulations. The max your wife could possibly get in SSI would be somewhere about $650-$800 a month depending on your state. Very limited.

But my husband's ex is happily drawing from him, and I guess she'd say it was her "reward" for putting up with him for all those years. She has been very careful not to remarry or in any way affect this potential benefit through the years, so here it comes. It's sort of the reality of our particular times.

 

[Bali Hai]

I suggest you read this: http://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/divspouse.html

How... sweet you both are for wanting to even try this.

I've seen alot in my life and expect to see alot more. This is truly the height of brass balls. The one thing that gives me comfort is that the current lazy generation will not likely fund these scammers. My heart goes out to the fine upstanding workers who deserve it.

 

[single317dad]

My next door neighbors got divorced because his mother died and left him ~$50,000 which would have made her ineligible for Medicaid and other benefits. I just sighed and wondered why they got to keep $50k that should have gone toward medical bills (they both have multiple health issues) while I work every day.

Coincidentally, he ended up needing heart surgery and had to pay most of the inheritance to the hospital anyway.

For the OP: You should make an appointment and discuss this matter with an SSA representative to determine the best course of action.

 

[Bali Hai]

My next door neighbors got divorced because his mother died and left him ~$50,000 which would have made her ineligible for Medicaid and other benefits. I just sighed and wondered why they got to keep $50k that should have gone toward medical bills (they both have multiple health issues) while I work every day.

Coincidentally, he ended up needing heart surgery and had to pay most of the inheritance to the hospital anyway.

For the OP: You should make an appointment and discuss this matter with an SSA representative to determine the best course of action.

I'm sure the SSA won't advise them to scam the system. And if they do, more laws need to be enacted. We wiped out the Mafia with the RICO act and I'm sure these bums can be neutralized as well.

 

[cbg]

Psst, Bali, honey - that was the idea. You missed the "sarcasm blue light" flashing over SingleDad's post, didn't you?

 

[Proserpina]

I'm sure the SSA won't advise them to scam the system. And if they do, more laws need to be enacted. We wiped out the Mafia with the RICO act and I'm sure these bums can be neutralized as well.

Funniest. Thing. EVER.

 

[ichiman]

This is the op wife.
Just wanted to clarify a few things.
I was married to my abusive (mentally & physically) ex husband for 19 years, two children were also physically/mentally abused.
I was a stay at home Mom. I left the marriage with No alimony, No medical & had to sign off his pension (that is the only way he would sign the papers.) The divorce went on for over 3 years. I was not paid for my services of raising my children, cooking, cleaning etc. I did not lay around on my butt doing nothing. I helped take care of my Grandparents & my Aunt. I also took care of my Mom for 12 years. Anyone who has done this knows it's not an easy task! I was also not paid for this.
Sorry, I feel I deserve something for my 19 years of abuse. I'm a decent, caring, loving, law abiding person. We are not trying to pull anything that is illegal. From what we understand this would not effect his SS, also he never remarried.

 

[Bali Hai]

Funniest. Thing. EVER.

You laugh? You think there is a Mafia like there was in the past? Today's Mafia is nothing more than street gangs with tattoos involved in drive by shootings. Now let's get these other thugs off the street too.

Thank you Rudy Giuilani!

 

[Proserpina]

This is the op wife.
Just wanted to clarify a few things.
I was married to my abusive (mentally & physically) ex husband for 19 years, two children were also physically/mentally abused.
I was a stay at home Mom. I left the marriage with No alimony, No medical & had to sign off his pension (that is the only way he would sign the papers.) The divorce went on for over 3 years. I was not paid for my services of raising my children, cooking, cleaning etc. I did not lay around on my butt doing nothing. I helped take care of my Grandparents & my Aunt. I also took care of my Mom for 12 years. Anyone who has done this knows it's not an easy task! I was also not paid for this.
Sorry, I feel I deserve something for my 19 years of abuse. I'm a decent, caring, loving, law abiding person. We are not trying to pull anything that is illegal. From what we understand this would not effect his SS, also he never remarried.

Let me ask you something.

If you had simply divorced because you weren't getting along, would you be asking the same question?

Do you feel like you "deserve" something in that instance?

 

[Proserpina]

You laugh? You think there is a Mafia like there was in the past? Today's Mafia is nothing more than street gangs with tattoos involved in drive by shootings. Now let's get these other thugs off the street too.

Thank you Rudy Giuilani!

Oh yes, I laugh.

I laugh, and I laugh loudly.

Perhaps one day, I'll tell you why.

 

[Bali Hai]

Oh yes, I laugh.

I laugh, and I laugh loudly.

Perhaps one day, I'll tell you why.

Tell us now, what are you waiting for? Al Capone to be your witness?

 

[commentator]

Honestly, I do not feel like this is "cheating the system" in any way. OP, I know for sure it wouldn't make any difference whether you ex had remarried or not, you would still be able to draw from him, and as I said, we really don't begrudge my hubby's ex her drawing off his Social Security. She had and raised my stepchildren, along with my husband, and it didn't work out, fortunately leaving me to have a happy ending.

This is not some form of welfare fraud, you do not have to impoverish yourself to qualify for these benefits, Just don't call it SSI when you're researching it or asking about it, which as I said is for the low income and has very strict income guidelines and limits. The Social Security retirement program does not inquire about family income and has no limits on income to receive social security retirement. They asked me a tremendous amount about past marriages when I signed up on Social Security retirement, though I am married currently, and I believe I asked about drawing off either of the former husbands, (sort of as a joke, since neither was a big earner) and they indicated it might be possible. Maybe a divorce from present spouse would've been necessary. If I am married to my present husband, that causes me to be able to draw from him, regardless of the length of the marriage, and with past spouses, it was if the marriage had lasted a certain amount of time. No fraud involved, it doesn't take money out of taxpayers pockets, and in some cases, it might be the way to go. With so many people living together in caring relationships without benefit of clergy or legal status, it's not like it was an unusual situation.

The example singledad used, of his neighbors getting divorced after a windfall inheritance is related to an income based program,(Medicaid) and given the situation of health care and health insurance in this country today, it wasn't hard to imagine the couple finding this a viable thing to do.

Remember, this is Social security retirement, which is different from SSI. It is not taxpayer assisted welfare, and I don't see that there would be any huge sin or stigma in your electing to separate yourselves legally to assist in your collecting the most you can in retirement benefits that have been paid into by someone you're legally entitled to draw from.