10 Bizarre Things About Social Security - Part 1: Your Ex-Spouses Could Receive Your Full Social Security Benefit If You Die Before Them

Did you know that your ex-spouses could receive your full social security benefit if you die before them? This only applies to people who were married more than once, and each marriage lasted over 10 years. If you die before your ex-spouses, they would be entitled to receive your full Social Security benefit payment for the rest of their lives. Many people don't know this. Let me tell you all about how ex-spouses can receive your Social Security amount.

Of course, your ex-spouses would only do this if your Social Security benefit amount was bigger than their own benefit amount. Let me give you an example of how this would work in real life.

An Example of How Ex-Spouses Can Receive Your Social Security

A husband was receiving a monthly Social Security benefit payment of $2,500 per month. The husband was currently on his third marriage. Each of his previous marriages had lasted over 10 years before the divorce.

So the husband has two ex-wives (who never remarried) along with his current wife. Both ex-wives and his current wife receive monthly Social Security benefit payments of less than $1,500 per month.

The husband dies unexpectedly. After his death, both of his ex-wives and his current wife can switch from their smaller benefit to the husband’s bigger benefit of $2,500 per month. They do not split that amount, each one of them receives a Social Security monthly benefit payment of $2,500 per month for the rest of their lives.

This is a mind-blowing feature of Social Security that most retirees and financial professionals have no idea exists. It is especailly good information to have if you yourself are an ex-spouse who never remarried.

This is Part 1 of a 10 part series. Keep your eyes open for more Social Security tips and advice coming soon in Part 2: Social Security’s Viagra Benefit.