An Interesting Social Security Retirement Story -

 Interesting Social Security Scenario - What’s your take on this?  👍  or  👎

 A (breadwinner) parent divorced a real deadbeat parent after 14 years of marriage -and (2) kids.  Neither ever remarried.  

The deadbeat never worked a reportable income job after the divorce, so, of course, they earned no Social Security benefit on their own earnings record and never paid any child support either.  Called the kids every few years as proof of life.  That’s it -   

With the Kids, now older but not yet out of the nest, but almost, the breadwinning parent decides to retire at their full retirement age.  Their financial success at their job thru the years produced a good Social Security Retirement Benefit and they had also been able to save for their retirement via retirement accounts and other investment/savings.  They had also paid off the house which took a lot of stress off the monthly budget.   They received the house (and mortgage) as part of the divorce settlement.  They, as well they should, felt pretty secure in their decision to retire.  They had done well in the single life that was built.  

The deadbeat parent somehow found out about the retirement of their successful EX and filed for Divorced Spousal Benefits and was granted 50% of the EX’s PIA benefit for this benefit - this parent was also at their full retirement age so the full 50% was granted for the Spousal Benefit.  

Of course, this did anger the breadwinner parent even though what they would be receiving as their SS Retirement Benefit was still the same - there is no offset to a primary insured for a Spousal Benefit - divorced or regular.  Guess it was just the principal / ethics of the benefit in their feelings that really bothered them about this. 

Being the smart and extremely resilient person and parent they were, they consulted with a lawyer and figured out that since the deadbeat parent now had an [attachable] income (the Social Security Divorced Spousal benefit), it was now proper for the responsible parent to file for back child support.  👏

They filed and got it - per Section 459 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 659) permits Social Security to withhold current and continuing Social Security payments to enforce  legal obligation to pay child support, alimony, or restitution.

Now the kids have a continuing resource from their dear ole deadbeat parent for their continuing education; courtesy of this action.  Responsible, retired parent feels really good about this result.  

Even though by law, this is completely legal and proper - it still affects the Social Security Trust Fund.  The responsible (now retired) parent and the kids are extremely happy.  The deadbeat parent, not so much !!  😀

SSA.gov - FAQ 04/16/2025 : Can my Social Security benefits be garnished or levied?  

Interesting how life turns out sometimes, Right?