My question is whether or not, and how, I might be able to leverage my ex-wife’s Social Security benefit to retire early or at a higher income level.
The facts:
1. I am 55 and my ex-wife 54. We were married 24 years and divorced 10 years ago, she has remarried, I have not and have no plans to.
2. For most of our marriage, my ex-wife earned double what I earned at the time. For the last 15 years or so, she has been at or above the Social Security maximum wage base.
3. My ex plans to retire early, I don’t know exactly when or what other funds she and her new husband have to support this.
4. My 35 work history with SSA includes several years with zero earnings because I was a graduate student or research fellow and not paying into the system.
5. I have been anticipating I will not retire until age 70, because each additional work year after 67 not only gives me the usual statutory bump in SS benefit, but will also increase my SS benefit by replacing one of my zero wage years.
6. I currently have 3x annual gross salary in qualified retirement accounts, mostly pre-tax. I am contributing 25% of my salary each year, about half pre-tax and half Roth or designated Roth. I expect to receive another 3x my annual salary from my father’s estate whenever he passes (he’s currently a healthy 81).
I would like to understand more about the rules that would allow me collect a partial benefit based on my ex-wife’s earnings, and if there is a strategy that would allow me to retire earlier than I planned, or increase my benefit, or both.
