If your spouse is getting retirement, or maybe your loved one died after some time of marriage, or even if you are going through a divorce. In any such situation, one practical question arises: “How long do you have to be married to receive spouse’s pension?” This is not just a simple doubt, but it is crucial to understand because your spouse’s pension and retirement benefits can be an important aspect of security for your future life. Whether you are eligible or not for availing such benefits becomes a major concern.
In this article, we will talk about the length of marriage required to become eligible for a spouse’s pension. In this guide, we will conduct in-depth research on the same topic. Let’s start!
Why Marriage Duration Matters?
Pension and retirement benefits are very important for future livelihood. In the course of marriage, the benefits may extend to your spouse. It is important to note that the assets like retirement accounts and pension acquired during the marriage are considered as a marital property. Which then will be devided between both the spouse.
Similarly, we have different types of retirement benefit plans, and generally, they possess the same criteria, but some benefits require some special criteria to be fulfilled to claim them. In this confusion, a concern arises: “How long do you have to be married to receive spouse’s pension?”
If we go for social security benefits, then it requires that you must be married for at least 10 years with the same spouse. In order to get the benefits based on the ex-spouse’s work history. And your age should be more than 62 years to claim any social security benefits based on your ex-spouse’s track record. However, waiting till the age of 67 years helps in getting the maximum possible social security benefit amount.
The duration of marriage matters because when you get married, the pension and retirement benefits acquired during the marriage are considered marital assets.
However, other benefits like 401(k), IRA, etc., are subject to joint assets. Also, the money or benefits acquired only during the marriage are joint or marital property. The benefits acquired before marriage will be considered as separate property.
Planning Retirement Together
A happy married life is the best part of your life. In a permanent marriage, you’re likely already covered by maximum pension or retirement plans as a spouse. There are several laws and programs which protects the entitlement of an spouse over the other spouse assets. What you will get:
Employee Benefits
- Under ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act), spouses are legally entitled to survivor benefits unless a special condition is mentioned. The survivor benefits are meant to help the spouse to manage daily expenses. While some spouses have children that increases the need of continuos income.
- These types of plans may require at least 1 complete year of marriage. The elligibility criteria is essential to make a fair transfer of funds and retirement assets.
Contribution Plans
- Benefits like 401(k), 403(b), etc: These types of plans don’t pay a monthly pension. But they provide you or your spouse a sum of money in the bank.
- You can also be named as the beneficiary on the account. By using this, you can easily claim your spouse’s benefits after a divorce.
Survivors’ Pension & Social Security
Losing a spouse is a very difficult phase of one’s life. But in such a situation, being practical, some social and financial benefits are there that can help you with your future requirements. However, the eligibility for such plans depends highly on the type of pension plans. Also, remarrying soon will end the benefits.
So, how long do you have to be married to receive spouse’s pension? The answer depends on such aspects.
- Social Security Benefits :- These are some special benefits provided for retirement purposes. They are made for the spouse who is 60 years of age and married to the ex-spouse for more than 9 months.
There are some exceptions present: If the death was accidental, if the death is duty-aligned, or if you have a child under the age of 16 years.
The age can vary; if the child was disabled, then the age will be 50 years, based on stats.
- Military Pension & Survivor Benefit Plan :- The U.S. military offers a Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP), which allows the related spouse a portion of retirement pay after the service member’s death. You generally need to be married for at least 1 year to qualify.
To understand how job termination affects your retirement benefits, read our guide on If you get fired from a government job do you lose your pension.
What happens In A Divorce?
This is also a complicated situation, as if you are going through these types of situations, you need to know your eligibility. Some benefits, like 401(k), social security benefits, etc., are subject to division during a divorce. Note that only the amount acquired after marriage and before divorce is going to be divided between the spouses.
Divorce makes the distribution and division of retirement assets of spouse complicated. Because after the separation, both spouses are going start a new life which comes with unpredictable financial need. For this reason it is crucial that both the spouses ends with a decent amount of funds to empower their after divorce life.
If you want to know all the information related to divorce, please go to our other article.
Conclusion: How Long Do You Have To Be Married To Receive Spouse’s Pension?
People who ask, how long do you have to be married to recieve spouse’s pension, need to understand that there are some timeline that needs to be fulfilled to get a share in the spouse’s pension. Pension and retirement benefits are joint assets for both spouses. The portion or eligibility for such benefits for a spouse depends on various situations. The most common thresholds are 1 year, 9 months, and 10 years, based on the scenarios. Whether you are planning for retirement together or some other case. The pension and retirement planning aligns with all such concerns.
As a spouse, you have rights to your partner’s retirement benefits and can claim them at the time you need.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How long do you have to be married to collect a spouse’s pension?
Length of marriage does not affect the complete pension benefits, but the longer the marriage duration, the more benefits you get.
Do you have to be married 10 years to collect Social Security?
Yes, to claim social security benefits, you have to be married for at least 10 years. There are some other criterians which are even valid for everyone. To claim social security benefits, you need to qualify the age criteria of 62 years. Only after this age a person can start making distributions from the social security benefits.
How long do you have to be married to get your ex-husband’s pension?
For some schemes, like 401(k), the length of marriage did not affect it, but the benefits acquired only after the marriage are subject to transfer. However, a acceptable marriage is all which is needed for such division eligibility.
