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kiwilee (original poster member #10426) posted at 4:00 AM on Saturday, August 12th, 2023
Hi if I am receiving maintenance for 6 years, is it standard to be the beneficiary on life insurance? If anything happens to him, my maintenance would run out. I can ask my lawyer, but figured I would save the $100 email and ask here first.
Also, I do not know much about pension and social security. I am getting half of the retirement. What about pension...what is pension? Am I entitled to part of his social security as well?
leafields ( Guide #63517) posted at 9:39 PM on Saturday, August 12th, 2023
For life insurance, I believe you can be the beneficiary so you have something in case the XWH dies.
For the pension, you will need to check the pension's requirements. Some have specific papers that need to be filed, and that can vary by pension.
For Social Security, you have a choice. You can collect benefits under your own SSN, or claim on your XWH'S SSN. You can pick the one that has the higher payout.
BW M 34years, Dday 1: March 2018, Dday 2: August 2019, D final 2/25/21
Babette2008 ( member #69126) posted at 8:40 PM on Monday, August 14th, 2023
A pension is a retirement plan where your employer guarantees you a monthly payment when you retire and that amount you receive is determined by the number of years you worked for the employer and your salary. Many government workers have pensions. In my pension system and many others whether or not you are entitled to a share of your spouses pension when they retire depends on what the court ordered when you divorced. If it's not court ordered then you wouldn't get anything and if it is court ordered you would. But it will depend on the jurisdiction where you are getting divorced and the pension system. If you aren't divorced yet and your spouse has a pension you should look up their rules for divorce.
For social security if you were married for at least 10 years and don't remarry, when you retire after age 62 you can either use your social security benefit or take your ex's as a spousal benefit, the spousal benefit is about half their full benefit.
If you were employed for most of your life and earned a decent salary then your benefit is probably better, but if your spouse was a high earner and you were out of the workforce for awhile then the spousal benefit might be better. Either way it has no impact on your ex's benefit and isn't something you need to negotiate as part of the divorce settlement (unlike the pension). The only real consideration is if you will need your ex's ss benefit to have a secure retirement, it might make you more cautious about remarrying because then you are only eligible for your own benefit or the spousal benefit of your new partner, which could be lower.
kiwilee (original poster member #10426) posted at 10:06 PM on Monday, August 14th, 2023
Wow Babette, thank you for all the helpful information! It really helps me a lot and I don’t have to pay $$ for it.
Really appreciate you!
Babette2008 ( member #69126) posted at 5:22 AM on Tuesday, August 15th, 2023
No problem. Knowledge is power 
I guess the key takeaway is you don't need to negotiate SS. It might be good to run an estimate of what you would be entitled to based on your earnings vs what you would be likely to receive based on your ex's earnings as a spousal benefit. You can do this on the social security website. Knowing this amount can help you figure what you have for retirement compared to your ex and how much you should ask for from his retirement savings (pension and other savings).
If you earned less and therefore have a smaller social security benefit because you were the primary child care provider and supported his career then getting a higher share of his retirement savings would make sense because you had less opportunities to get your own savings, including social security.
At least that would be my argument.
Good luck 🤞
Topic is Sleeping.
