Social Security Surviving Divorced Spouse Benefits

Overview

The Social Security Surviving Divorced Spouse Benefits are a federally funded program administered by the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA). These are benefits paid to the divorced spouse of a deceased worker who had earned enough work credits.

Program Requirements:

To qualify for this benefit program, you must meet all of the following requirements:

• Be at least age 60
• Be divorced from the deceased worker
• Have been married to the deceased worker for at least 10 years
• Not be entitled to an equal or higher Social Security benefit on your own work record
• Be unmarried (unless an exception applies).

If you would like to find out if you may be eligible for any of the benefits SSA administers, take the U.S. Social Security Administration’s (SSA) Benefit Eligibility Screening Tool.

Once you have completed the eligibility screening questionnaire, you will be provided with a list of benefits for which you may be eligible. Print this page for your records before going to the application site.

Application Details

Widows, widowers, and surviving divorced spouses cannot apply online for survivor’s benefits. For application information, please visit the How To Apply page.