In a typical Pennsylvania divorce case, you and your former spouse would speak on splitting the assets. This involves property and wealth. One of the unique challenges in a silver divorce, however, is Social Security and retirement benefits. Social security provides financial aid to retirees. This money comes from payroll taxes. When married, a couple shares their finances. When you divorce, however, what happens with your Social Security benefits?
Forbes suggests that a pension is a shared asset. When you and your partner divorce, the money divides equally. This is the same when it comes to your retirement fund. As a person saves for retirement, he or she does not usually save for divorce. Most couples do not expect to divorce in their later years. Then, when you do split, your retirement funds diminish because you have to cut the funds in half.
Most retirees require the full amount of their retirement or Social Security benefits. When you take the money that a couple survived on and cut it in two, the two halves are not often substantial enough to take care of each person individually. This leads to unique challenges for each party involved. However, it does offer protection also. After retirement age, most cannot simply start over with a new career and a way of earning money. Social Security benefits are a part of shared income and do become divided after a divorce.
The provided information is to help inform you on what happens to Social Security benefits after a divorce, but you should not take any of it as legal advice.