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Not old enough for Medicare and going broke with company insurance
Aging Well | Last Active: Sep 4, 2022 | Replies (23)Comment receiving replies
I’m sorry to hear about your son. My first husband is deceased. Car wreck and he was a passenger but the seatbelt didn’t work on that side of the owners car. My son was 18 at the time. I thought he was going to do something. Suicide, I was scared to death for him. My husband and I were avid gun collectors, and for home protection. We trained and knew the laws and so did my son. They were put up but he knew where and had his own key. I got them all out of the house and took them to a friend of mine that I could trust and asked him to hold on to them for a while. I couldn’t imagine losing my best friend and then my only child. But anyway all is ok now this was end of 2001. I did remarry. I had known him for 16 years. I was friends with his ex. Boy did I not know what went on behind closed doors. He was lazy and liked to spend money too much. My money. Finally 3 years later I said I’ve had it, we’re done. Didn’t think much about a divorce decree. The legal separation cost a fortune and all the stuff was mine anyway. But then years later someone told me I could collect my deceased husband’s social security as long as I was fully divorced from the idiot. I had to wait till I was 60. I turned 60 this year so I’m in the process of the divorce and change my name back to my previous married name. Then head to social security. I didn’t think I would need a lawyer for that. Hope you and your son are well!
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Boy, what (another) maddening story about unworthy exes. Thank heavens you were given that information about SS!
A very good thing that you divorced the sleaze who followed your first (rather than a mere legal separation).
I'm so glad you have that well deserved payout coming to you. Yes, I forgot that there's that age limit too. Which reminds me, I guess everybody now knows that there are great differences between what one gets from SS, depending on when one retires.
I didn't have to look into this in my situation, but before you file, be sure to check with a good lawyer about whether your age upon filing matters in your payout.
Probably not, as it's your ex's salary being looked out (and he certainly can't earn more being deceased). It's complicated, though, and in case your age factors in (workers are eligible for much more SS if they delay retirement) , it's worth checking about this aspect of your SS payment. So many important decisions like this, are "once and done" .
For example, I was unable to contest my divorce agreement later when I realized how I had been cheated (something about the "coverture fraction of the marital portion").
Once signed, even though I had been deliberately misled, I was stuck for the rest of my life.
(I'm now receiving $550/month from his pension instead of about $2500/month! Forever. That is, apart from Social Security.)
Thanks for your comment about my son. For the record, when he was finally able to go to Harvard (and even graduated) he remained unable to make the most of that prestigious degree because of his terrible handicaps from toddlerhood. (Thanks to Dad for that too, and abuses). "Little children, little problems; big children, big problems".
He's now driving an ambulance around Boston, where he scarcely makes enough to survive - I hate to think about his future survival especially now that the social safety net is increasingly fraying. His present salary is at the bottom of the ladder, and furthermore, with all the heavy lifting (he's gotten severely overweight) his back is being destroyed. He walks like an old man. Don't know why I can't persuade him to get a few more years of training to qualify for something less physical especially now that Community Colleges are so much reduced in cost. Brilliant though he may be, he remains incapable of planning and organizing.
(Can't help feeling I wasted my own life, working so hard to save his - it was almost a miracle to safeguard the opportunities which enabled him to win acceptance to Harvard! Complicated and sad.)
Best of luck to you!