I believe you had to have been married for 10 years or longer to qualify for Social Security benefits from a spouse. Contact the local VA for advice on military pension and benefits.
Roseannaf2002: I am not sure about a military pension from an ex husband. However, for social security benefits, the ex spouse CAN receive one half of their ex's social security provided the person does not remarry. This was my late cousin's situation.
Connie's article was very interesting. It really depends on how long u were married and if during the time of his service how long. Seems there is a formula.
If he took out the annuity known as Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) as a retiree and therefore, had a small percentage of his pension taken out monthly for the SBP annuity and kept you as the spouse on the Survivor Benefit Plan to his death, then you would be eligible for a stipend for the rest of your life. Contact the service with his DOB, his Date of Death, your marriage date to determine if he: 1) Initiated the SBP annuity (typically within a year of his retirement) and 2) If he maintained your name on it to his death. If he remarried after your divorce, one would typically change the beneficiary name to the current spouse. If he did not remarry and did initiate the SBP annuity shortly after his military retirement and maintained the monthly allotment to the SBP annuity, then it is available.
Your best answers will come from you contacting a VA office near you. You will most likely need specific documents/ info re his service and discharge status, so you may want to be sure that you have access to these . Call VA, it will be a good first step.
You've gotten a lot of conflicting information here and I don't want to add to it, but my DH is retired military (still living) and signed up for Survivor Benefits when he retired, naming me as beneficiary. This decreased his payment each month because he paid into the plan. If he passes away first, I will receive 55% of his benefit.
As for being divorced, I don't think this automatically eliminates you, but I could be wrong. It would have been settled at the time of divorce, I think, as others have said.
Instead of contacting the VA, you need to get in touch with the Department of Defense. There are lots of articles and contact info if you google "Department of defense survival benefits".
My guess is that if you'd been named a beneficiary, the DOD would have contacted you upon his death. Still, it never hurts to ask. Best of luck.
I would check the divorce papers, they will state the benefits you are entitled to upon his death and retirement if any I believe. But getting in touch with the benefits department of his branch of service to ask the question should get those answers too.
For military he would had to take out survivor's benefit for anyone to get the pension from the military and with it being your ex husband I don't think you qualify on that I could be wrong. Once you divorce your benefits stop.
Here is what it says on it: For every other military spouse divorcee, there simply are no military benefits after divorce. Your benefits end the day your divorce is final. However, if you have children together, they will still qualify for military benefits, even if you haven't been married more than 20 years and even if you remarry.
Here is what it says too: An un-remarried former spouse may retain the military ID card if he or she meets the 20/20/20 rule. The 20/20/20 rule requires at least twenty years of marriage, at least twenty years of military service, and at least twenty years of overlap of the marriage and the military service.
If military pensions are like other federal employee pensions, there are options for continuing the benefits after the death of the person receiving the pension; however, the selection of those options occurs at the time of retirement. The retiree can select for the pension to stop at the time of death (highest monthly payment), for the pension to stop at the time of death but with an ending lump sum payment (second highest monthly payment), or for the payment to stop at the time of the death of the retiree or dependent, whichever occurs last (lowest monthly payment). Since you are divorced, I would imagine that he did not select the last option; however, as someone else mentioned, contact the VA.
You need to call your local VA office to ask about pensions. There is too much conflicting info on the internet. I thought once the military person dies, so does the pension. As with any pension, this has to be discussed at time of divorced from what I just read. You have to be married 10 yrs but he also has to be in the service those 10 years. If you remarried, I don't think your entitled to anything. As a divorced spouse, you are not really entitled to much. But no harm in asking.
His SS, that will depend on how long u were married, as said at least 10 yrs. Also, who has the highest SS earnings. If you are already getting more than u will from him, you can't get his. But, I would look into it. Same if you were married again. You can only get from one spouse. This would be maybe the one you were married to the longest and...the higher SS earnings.
I worked with a woman who wanted to retire to care for her Mom. She checked out what she would receive and it wasn't enough. I asked if she had been married. Yes, widowed after 20 yrs of marriage and an x she was not married to as long. She never told SS that. She went back to SS and was able to get from her 1st husband. It gave her enough xtra SS to retire.
If you were married more than 10 years consecutively to him, and his SS benefit is a higher amount than yours, then you can apply to receive his. You will need to show your marriage license and divorce paperwork to the SSA when you apply.
Not sure about his pension or VA benefits, but doubtul if you were divorced.
Contact the local VA for advice on military pension and benefits.
2) If he maintained your name on it to his death.
If he remarried after your divorce, one would typically change the beneficiary name to the current spouse.
If he did not remarry and did initiate the SBP annuity shortly after his military retirement and maintained the monthly allotment to the SBP annuity, then it is available.
You will most likely need specific documents/ info re his service and discharge status, so you may want to be sure that you have access to these . Call VA, it will be a good first step.
As for being divorced, I don't think this automatically eliminates you, but I could be wrong. It would have been settled at the time of divorce, I think, as others have said.
Instead of contacting the VA, you need to get in touch with the Department of Defense. There are lots of articles and contact info if you google "Department of defense survival benefits".
My guess is that if you'd been named a beneficiary, the DOD would have contacted you upon his death. Still, it never hurts to ask. Best of luck.
Here is what it says on it:
For every other military spouse divorcee, there simply are no military benefits after divorce. Your benefits end the day your divorce is final. However, if you have children together, they will still qualify for military benefits, even if you haven't been married more than 20 years and even if you remarry.
Here is what it says too:
An un-remarried former spouse may retain the military ID card if he or she meets the 20/20/20 rule. The 20/20/20 rule requires at least twenty years of marriage, at least twenty years of military service, and at least twenty years of overlap of the marriage and the military service.
I hope this helps.
His SS, that will depend on how long u were married, as said at least 10 yrs. Also, who has the highest SS earnings. If you are already getting more than u will from him, you can't get his. But, I would look into it. Same if you were married again. You can only get from one spouse. This would be maybe the one you were married to the longest and...the higher SS earnings.
I worked with a woman who wanted to retire to care for her Mom. She checked out what she would receive and it wasn't enough. I asked if she had been married. Yes, widowed after 20 yrs of marriage and an x she was not married to as long. She never told SS that. She went back to SS and was able to get from her 1st husband. It gave her enough xtra SS to retire.
Not sure about his pension or VA benefits, but doubtul if you were divorced.