Q: I am 63 and my husband is 62. I am getting my own Social Security already, but my husband plans to work until he's 66 and won't take his Social Security until then. I understand that I can't get any of my husband's Social Security until he starts his own. But a friend just showed me an old column of yours that says a divorced woman can get some of her ex-husband's Social Security even if he isn't collecting benefits himself. Why do divorced women get a break that a married woman like myself can't get? It just doesn't seem fair!

A: I'll admit that on the surface it doesn't seem fair. But if you consider the rationale for this policy, the rules begin to make sense.

You must remember that anything you receive as a spouse on your husband's Social Security record is a benefit based on dependency. In other words, a woman can collect Social Security benefits as a wife on her husband's account if she is dependent on his Social Security for at least part of her livelihood.

Your husband is still working, so you are probably dependent on his earnings for part of your livelihood. But you are obviously not dependent on his Social Security. At least, not yet. When he does retire and go on Social Security, then you would be dependent on those benefits and that's when you can get a wife's benefit on his record.

However, the law assumes a divorced woman cannot depend on her husband's earnings for her livelihood. That's why Social Security policymakers decided she should be allowed to get part of his Social Security to live on -- even if he isn't getting benefits himself. He must be old enough to be eligible for Social Security. But if he's still working and not getting his retirement checks yet, his ex-wife would be allowed to get her portion of them.

And by the way, during my 35 years of working on Social Security issues, I've met more than a few bitter women whose mean-spirited ex-husbands purposely didn't take retirement benefits just to try to keep their ex-wives from getting any of their Social Security money. These women were always thrilled to learn about the rules that let divorced women get around the shenanigans of their stingy ex-husbands.

Q: I am a 62-year-old woman getting Social Security disability benefits. I heard that Social Security beneficiaries can work and earn about $15,000 per year and still get their benefits. Can you be more specific? Continued...