[If you are divorced, but your marriage lasted 10 years or longer, you can receive benefits on your ex-spouse's record (even if he or she has remarried) if:

You are unmarried;
You are age 62 or older;
Your ex-spouse is entitled to Social Security retirement or disability benefits and

The benefit you are entitled to receive based on your own work is less than the benefit you would receive based on your ex-spouse's work. ]

more rules & info on the links above..

Hi JoMar,

As usual, you stated matters so very well. I do have ONE question. If a couple is married for more than 10 years and divorce. I will use Harry and Sally to keep things simple. Harry remarries and so does Sally to other people. Harry stays married to second wife but Sally divorces second husband after 8 years. She is currently un-married. Is Sally entitled to any of Harry's benefits? I was under the impression that Sally had to remain unmarried since leaving Harry in order to claim against Harry's benefits. Example, if Harry and Sally divorce and Harry remarries but Sally does NOT, she is entitled to claim under his work record if all other requirements are met. Harry could marry several times and each wife that stayed married to him for the required time frame would be eligible to claim against his work record as long as each of them did not remarry after leaving Harry.

I know of someone (Harry) that was married 3 times and each wife is receiving benefits under his work record and none of them ever re-married after being married to him even though some were married to others BEFORE being married to "Harry".

I didn't actually write that myself, it was a snippet from the ss website in the links I gave....there are more details on the links..about divorces and ex spouses, remarriage etc

If Sally is unmarried at the time she files, she is potentially eligible on Harry's record. Sally could have four 10 year marriages by the time she turns age 62 and SSA would pay her the highest benefit as long as she is currently unmarried and what she would get as an ex-spouse is more than what she would get on her own record and she is earning under the annual earnings test amount.