Q & A
What are the Social Security award rules on re-marrying the same spouse?
Full question: I was married to my husband from March 2001 until April 2009. Then we divorced. I then married the same man in November 2010 and divorced him a second time in January 2014. So we were married more than 10 years, although it was in two separate stretches of time. Will I be able to get Social Security on his record?
Answer: You lucked out. The rule normally does say your marriage must have reached its 10th anniversary before you can be considered potentially eligible for divorced wife’s benefits. But two periods of marriage to the same man that, combined, add up to at least 10 years will count IF the second marriage occurs before the end of the year following the year in which you got the first divorce. In other words, because you got divorced in April 2009, you had until the end of 2010 to remarry the guy and stay within the Social Security duration of marriage rules. And you just squeaked in by marrying him in November. So now I’ve got a question for you: Why the heck did you marry the guy the second time? I know, love can be strange!
Source: Tom Margenau, ArcaMax Publishing - 9/17/2014
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