What Does Remarrying Do to Your Social Security Benefits?

If you’re divorced and thinking about remarrying, you may be wondering “If I remarry what happens to my Social Security?” In most cases, remarriage won’t affect benefits based on your own work history, including retirement or disability payments. However, if you currently receive benefits based on a former spouse’s work record, those benefits usually end when you remarry, unless certain exceptions apply. For those receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI), remarriage can affect your household income and assets, which may change your monthly payments. Here’s what you need to know before tying the knot again.

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Remarriage and Retirement or Disability Benefits

Most Social Security recipients collect either retirement benefits or disability benefits. These are monthly payments that you receive based on your personal work history. As you work and pay FICA taxes, you accrue Social Security credits. Then, when you reach a qualifying criteria, you can begin collecting benefits based on those credits. For retirement benefits, you must be old enough to receive benefits. For disability benefits, you must have a qualifying disability or blindness.

In most, if not all, cases, neither retirement nor disability benefits are affected by your marital status. You will receive these benefits in full if you are divorced and remarry. You will also receive these benefits in full if you marry for the first time and your spouse has been divorced.

Divorced Spouse Benefits

If you are divorced from an eligible Social Security recipient, you may be able to receive benefits based on their work history. While not a comprehensive list, to receive divorced spouse benefits, you must generally:

Be older than 62
Have been married to your ex-spouse for at least 10 years
Currently be unmarried

If you meet the program’s criteria, you can receive payments worth a portion of your ex-spouse’s benefits. In general, you can expect to receive roughly 50% of what your spouse would get at your age (i.e., if you collect benefits at 67, you can expect to receive half of the value of their benefits). This has no impact on the benefits that your ex-spouse receives, nor is it affected by their marital status. If you are entitled to Social Security based on your own work history, you will receive the greater of either your benefits or your ex-spouse’s.

Remarriage will terminate your eligibility for divorce benefits. If you remarry, you are no longer eligible for your ex-spouse’s benefits. If your later marriage has ended, you can once again collect the benefits of an ex-spouse based on the SSA’s rules.

Survivor Benefits

If you predecease your family, your spouse or dependents are typically eligible for Social Security survivor’s benefits. This is an amount of your retirement or disability benefits that they can claim based on several factors, including your credits and their current status.

The exact amount a claimant can receive ranges widely. In general, a surviving spouse can typically claim the same benefits that their spouse would have received. That is, a surviving spouse who claims benefits at age 67 will generally receive 100% of the decedent’s benefits.

Here, remarriage can get both tricky and specific. Your eligibility for survivor’s benefits will depend chiefly on the age at which you remarry:

Remarriage before age 50. No survivor’s benefits for a predeceased spouse while you are married to the later spouse. You could, however, be eligible for survivor’s benefits for a predeceased spouse if you divorce the later spouse.
Remarriage between ages 50 and 59. No survivor’s benefits for a predeceased spouse.
Remarriage after age 60. Potential eligibility for survivor’s benefits for a predeceased spouse.

Supplemental Security Income

The SSI program provides additional income to low-income households based on age and disability. The goal is to supplement additional Social Security benefits as necessary.

Remarriage does not specifically impact your eligibility for SSI payments. However, this program is means-tested, meaning that it is based on your household income and assets. Remarriage will likely introduce more money into your house, which might affect your eligibility for SSI payments.

Bottom Line

A woman researching how remarriage will affect her retirement or disability benefits under Social Security.

It’s natural to wonder “If I remarry what happens to my Social Security?” If you receive Social Security retirement or disability benefits based on your own work history, getting remarried will not affect those payments, they remain fully intact regardless of your marital status. However, if you receive divorce or survivor benefits based on a former spouse’s work record, remarriage can have an impact. In most cases, those benefits will end once you remarry, as the Social Security Administration typically shifts eligibility to your new spouse’s record.

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