Social Security Benefits and how they relate to a Divorce Action
Unfortunately, a divorce action knows no age limit. Therefore, parties to a divorce action can be 18 to 118. Which begs the question – how are Social Security benefits viewed by a court in a divorce action? Similar to many answers in the legal field – it depends. Below is a brief overview of how and when a court would view Social Security benefits in a divorce action.
1. The definition of “‘marital property’ includes recovery in . . . social security disability actions,” which means that a court has the ability to divide any recovery received by a spouse from a social security disability action that occurred during the marriage. See T.C.A. § 36-4-121(b)(2)(C).
2. When making an equitable distribution of a marital estate, a court will consider various factors, including “[t]he amount of social security benefits available to each spouse.” See T.C.A. § 36-4-121(c)(11).
Although a court will consider the amount of benefits available to a spouse in an overall equitable distribution, a court cannot award one spouse’s future social security benefits to the other as marital property, as such is strictly prohibited under the antiassignment clause of the federal Social Security Act. See 42 U.S.C.A. § 407(a) (“The right of any person to any future payment under this subchapter shall not be transferable or assignable, at law or in equity, and none of the moneys paid or payable or rights existing under this subchapter shall be subject to execution, levy, attachment, garnishment, or other legal process, or to the operation of any bankruptcy or insolvency law.”).
Therefore, in a divorce action, any recovery received by one spouse from a social security disability action during the marriage is defined as marital property and can be divided as such in an overall equitable distribution, a court is prohibited from awarding one spouse a portion of the other spouse’s future social security benefits in an overall equitable distribution.
