Ex- Gets 70% More Social Security After 40 Years if Marriage

[jetter2009]

I worked for a good part of the marriage but stayed home to raise our children. Eventually the family business failed and we declared bankruptcy and lost everything. After the divorce he was required to pay alimony but eventually the payments tapered off when our chronically unemployed son moved in with him. I didnt want to tear the family apart by having him arrested for non-payment so I survived on little money for years. Now Im elderly and need that alimony to survive. However, soon he will be going into a nursing home and they plan on keeping his whole social security check. I read online that social security allows garnishment for the purpose of alimony but when I called them they denied this. I think its unfair that his checks are so much higher than mine and think they should be equalized. Is there anything that I can do to garnish his social security?

[Janke]

You would have to have a court order or a judgement that he is in arrears, so you would need to supply enough proof to the divorce court for the court to make that decision. He would have to be served notice of the court proceedings and has the right to protest and supply his own proof. I am guessing the whole family will find out. If you get a judgement, you can then serve garnishment documents for unpaid alimony on the Social Security Administration. There is no law that will allow Social Security to 'equalize' SS benefits for any reason.

This will sound cold-hearted because it is, and you have probably thought it yourself, but since he is going into a nursing home, he may not survive a long time and you may be able to get surviving divorced spouse's benefits which will increase what you are now receiving.

If you are over 65 and have limited income and resources, you may wish to look into applying for SSI benefits.