Can I get divorced-spouse benefits if my ex is still working?

Your ex's full-time work does not reduce your divorced-spouse benefit. The earnings test that could dock a current spouse's household check on the worker's record explicitly does not apply to a divorced spouse who's been divorced from the worker for at least two years. POMS RS 02501.021 codifies this carve-out.

If you're independently entitled — ten-year marriage, two-year clock cleared, ex aged 62 or older — you can file at any time. Whether they're earning forty thousand a year or four hundred thousand doesn't change your check.

Here's a flashlight worth knowing about. Social Security calculates the worker's primary insurance amount from their highest 35 years of indexed earnings. If your ex is currently earning more than what they earned in any of those 35 highest years, this year's earnings could replace a lower year and bump their PIA up.

Your divorced-spouse benefit is half of your ex's PIA at their FRA (less any reduction for filing early). So if their PIA goes up, your future benefit could go up too — but only if you haven't filed yet. Once you file, your benefit is locked in based on their PIA at that moment, plus any cost-of-living adjustments.

Whether to wait is a judgment call. Don't bank on a specific number; model it.

If your ex is retired or near a 35-year ceiling, this lever doesn't really apply. → See divorced-spouse benefit basics

If your ex stopped working but hasn't filed for their own retirement, that doesn't change anything for you. The independently-entitled rule does not require the ex to have filed; it requires the ex to be at least 62 and the divorce to be at least two continuous years old.

Don't get caught by this: some people assume their ex stopping work is the trigger to file. It isn't. The triggers are the ex's age (62+), your two-year divorce clock, your ten-year marriage, and you being unmarried. Their employment status — working, retired, on disability, or anything else — doesn't enter the test.

If your ex retired, started collecting their own benefit, and then went back to work before their FRA, the earnings test may reduce their check (one dollar withheld for every two dollars over the annual exempt amount, until they reach FRA). That reduction applies to your ex.

It does not flow through to you. POMS RS 02501.021 makes the carve-out explicit: the earnings test does not apply to divorced spouses based on the worker's excess earnings, when the divorce is at least two years old. Their check may shrink; yours doesn't.

Different question, different answer. Your own work, while you're collecting a divorced-spouse benefit before your full retirement age, can reduce your check under the earnings test. In 2026 the under-FRA exempt amount is around twenty-three thousand four hundred dollars; the SSA withholds one dollar for every two dollars you earn above it.

That reduction is on your check, based on your earnings — entirely separate from anything your ex does. Once you reach your full retirement age, the earnings test stops applying.

If you're at or past your FRA, the earnings test no longer applies. → See working while collecting

You don't have to wait for your ex to stop working. If the four eligibility tests are met (ten-year marriage, two-year divorce, ex 62, you unmarried), you can file as soon as you're 62 yourself.

But here's the flashlight — there are two reasons waiting could still help. First, your own check is permanently reduced if you file before your full retirement age (as little as 32.5 percent of your ex's PIA at 62, versus 50 percent at FRA). Second, if your ex's continued high earnings are bumping their PIA, your future benefit could be higher when you do file. Both are about your math, not their employment.

Helping an aging parent who's anxious that their ex's still-working status is somehow blocking them or shrinking their check? Reassure them first. The earnings test that could dock a current-spouse household check does not follow into the divorced-spouse track, when two years of divorce have passed.

Then walk through the four real triggers: ten-year marriage, two continuous years past final decree, ex aged 62 or older, parent currently unmarried. Pull their my Social Security account at ssa.gov/myaccount to see the divorced-spouse estimate. If you'll be acting on their behalf, file SSA-1696 to be appointed as representative.

Separated but not divorced means you're still legally married — which puts you on the current-spouse track, not the divorced-spouse track. To file as a current spouse on your husband's or wife's record, they must have filed for their own retirement first. The two-year independent-entitlement rule applies only after a final divorce.

If you're considering divorce, the timing matters: the ten-year marriage requirement is measured to the date the divorce becomes final. Don't divorce at year nine of a marriage if you're planning to file as a divorced spouse later — wait until year ten. Talk to a family-law attorney; this is way outside my lane.

If you're currently married and your spouse hasn't filed, see the current-spouse rule. → See spousal-if-spouse-not-filed