How long must clients be married to collect Social Security on each other? It depends

Sometimes I spend so much time focusing on the complicated details of Social Security claiming strategies for married couples that it's easy to overlook the basic rules. A reader e-mailed me the other day with a simple question: How long does one need to be married to qualify for Social Security benefits?

It's a great question, but the answer is anything but simple. As with so many aspects of Social Security rules, the answer is: It depends. The rules governing minimum length of marriage to qualify for Social Security benefits differ depending on the type of benefits in question: spousal, survivor or divorced spouse.

I'd like to thank William “BJ” Jarrett of the Social Security Administration's national press office for supplying me with the details of these various rules.

SPOUSE

For a Social Security spouse's benefit, a spouse must be legally married to the worker at the time the application is filed and for at least one continuous year immediately before the day of the application. The application actually can be filed before the first anniversary of the marriage as long as the anniversary occurs prior to processing.

Same-sex couples who are legally married and reside in one of the 16 states or the District of Columbia that recognizes their marriage now are entitled to the same Social Security benefits as traditional married couples.

There is an exception to the one-year duration requirement: if the spouse and the worker are the natural parents of a minor child. Both the child and the caregiving parent are entitled to benefits equal to one-half of the worker's benefit, subject to a family maximum amount that ranges from 150% to 180% of the worker's benefit. The worker's benefit is not affected by the family maximum restrictions.

A caregiving parent is subject to annual earnings cap restrictions. For 2013, the parent would forfeit $1 in benefits for every $2 earned over $15,120. A caregiving parent's benefits stop when the child turns 16. Spousal benefits can resume when the individual reaches 62.

SURVIVOR

For a Social Security survivor's benefit, a widow or widower must have been married to the deceased worker at the time of his or her death and for