Losing a spouse is an emotional and challenging experience, and it often brings financial concerns to the forefront. Social Security benefits can provide critical support to widows, helping them ...

Divorced or widowed individuals can claim Social Security benefits from a former spouse’s record. These benefits are generally available to people who have not remarried and meet other criteria.

“Hey y’all, it’s Bedtime Snacktime,” says Donna Clements, 66, in a recent TikTok video. She’s in her kitchen, wearing polka-dotted pajamas with a bowl in front of her. “If you’re new here. I’m a ...

Cebotari Nicolai / Getty Images/iStockphoto My wife and I are celebrating our 49th wedding anniversary, although at our age, “celebrating” means maybe an extra scoop of ice cream on our next trip to ...

Q: I understand paying benefits to widows. But I don’t understand paying benefits to divorcees. A woman who is divorced is not a widow. She is an ex-wife. So why does she have a claim to her ...

The U.S. Social Security system includes special provisions that allow individuals to claim benefits based on their spouse’s earnings record—even if the spouse is deceased or they are divorced.

She wasn’t due anything extra at the time because a divorced wife’s rate is way less than a divorced widow’s rate. So let this be a lesson to other readers out there. If you had a prior marriage, even ...

This column is addressed to women, especially divorced women, because 99 percent of the benefits we pay to spouses of retired and deceased workers go to women. But Social Security laws are gender ...