Ask the Expert: Social Security benefits for divorced spouse

I divorced my husband after 17 years of marriage, and I'm now unmarried. Can I collect on his Social Security when I'm 62, and then switch to my own Social Security at my full retirement age?

No. The option to switch between a spousal benefit and your own benefit doesn't become available until your full retirement age, which is 66. At 62, you'll be automatically applying for both your spousal benefit and your own, and you'll receive an amount equal to the larger of the two.

As an unmarried person whose former marriage lasted at least 10 years, you qualify to apply for a spousal benefit based on your ex's record. But you can't file for it until you and your ex are both at least 62. And if you file for a spousal benefit before 66, you can't collect any of it unless it exceeds what you're entitled to on your own record. (If your spousal benefit is $1,000 a month and your own benefit is $1,200, for example, you get $1,200.)

If you apply at 66, you get a much better deal. You can collect the smaller spousal benefit and postpone applying for your own -- and after you reach full retirement age, your benefit grows 8 percent a year for up to four years of delay. You qualify for the maximum spousal benefit -- 50 percent of the amount your ex is entitled to at his full retirement age. (At 62, you get only 35 percent of that amount.)

And if you still work, you don't forfeit any benefit regardless of your salary. At 62, Social Security withholds $1 of benefit for each $2 you earn above $14,160 a year.

The bottom line
You have more options if you wait until your full retirement age to apply for Social Security.

Websites with more information
Click here for aarp.us/ruBDKC
Click here for 1.usa.gov/qsd3vr