Published on: February 9, 2016
Suffering from a disability can lower your emotional and physical capabilities, as well as your overall well-being. If you are divorced or going through a divorce, this can add more stress and heartache to your already weakened condition.
Knowing ways that disability benefits can be affected by divorce is essential to maintaining a good quality of life during and after divorce. How a divorce affects your disability benefits depends on a variety of factors, such as:
- Changes in marital status after your divorce
- Your age
- You and your ex-spouse’s retirement and/or work status
- The duration of your marriage
As new laws are passed, the Social Security Administration works diligently to update the requirements and payouts to accommodate the changes accordingly.
For example, originally, the SSA would formerly award benefits to the divorced individual if he/she was married 20 or more years. However, the time frame is now 10 years.
Your ex-spouse may still be eligible to receive benefits on your Social Security file if they meet the following criteria:
- Your marriage with this ex-spouse lasted at least 10 years
- Your ex-spouse must be at least 62 years of age, or have a child of yours under the age of 16 in his/her care
- Your ex-spouse is unmarried
- Your ex-spouse is not eligible for an equal or higher benefit on his or her own record
- Your ex-spouse is not eligible for an equal or higher benefit on anyone else’s Social Security file, such as a spouse from another marriage
Common Law Marriage
Common law marriages are typically defined as circumstances in which a man and woman have lived together for a period of time and presented themselves as being married to their family, friends and community.
While the Social Security Administration does recognize common law marriages and has specific requirements those in common law marriages to receive disability benefits, the SSA honors and upholds state laws foremost. It is important to know that Florida does not recognize any common law marriages that were entered into after January 1, 1968.
Property Division
In Florida, property division is not equitable between the spouses. Therefore, judges are the presiding authority on whether or not an exact equal division would be fair. To make these determinations, judges take into account numerous factors, including economic circumstances, duration of marriage and spousal contributions.
If your or your ex-spouse’s Social Security benefits have already been paid into a shared bank account, they are likely to be considered marital property, and thus equally split based on Florida’s property division laws and the Social Security Administration’s requirements and conditions.
Same Sex Marriage
As same sex marriage has only recently been recognized under federal law, the Social Security Administration is still in the process of modifying same-sex Social Security benefits.
The SSA typically relies on state jurisdiction for matters of marriage and divorce, so it can be assumed that rules for benefits during same sex divorce will generally be the same as that state's rules for opposite-sex marriage.
Who Can You Rely On?
Going through a divorce is almost always a time of hurt and stress. Knowing the intricacies of how your disability benefits will be affected by divorce is helpful for you and your ex-spouse. Contact an experienced, compassionate and professional advocate at Disability Experts of Florida to learn more about how your divorce will affect your disability benefits.
