By Jennifer M. Paine

Attorney, Cordell & Cordell, P.C., Detroit office

Note: This is Part 3 of a three-part overview of the Social Security Act’s  divorced spouse Social Security retirement benefits. Click here to read Part 1 and click here to read Part 2.

Here is an overview of the Social Security Act’s divorced spouse Social Security retirement benefits to consider as you contemplate divorce, negotiate your settlement, or select the date to make your decree effective.

In this final part, we'll address two questions:

• Do divorced spouse retirement benefits terminate if I remarry?
• How can I learn more?

Among the Ask a Divorce Lawyer questions answered today by Cordell & Cordell attorneys:

• Can my wife move out and take our kids with her if we're going through a divorce?
• If my ex wife and I get remarried, and she owes back child support to me, can we get the amount reduced or voided completely?
• Can my parental rights be terminated without my permission?
• Can my ex continue to drag me back to court every two months to try and get more child support?
• My wife and son are living in another state while we're separated. When I go to visit him,         can I take him to another place as long as it's within state boundaries?
• Do I have the right to claim my child as a dependent if my ex and I have joint custody and I          pay child support?
• If I marry a woman with kids from a previous marriage and then we end up getting a divorce,          am I required to pay child support for her children?

Question: My ex wife and I have joint legal custody of our 8-year-old daughter, but she is the custodial parent. Last year my ex re-married someone who is in the Army. They just had their own child one month ago. 

When my ex was pregnant, she quit her job and soon after her new husband was laid off of work. He now wants to go to school through the reserves to become an Amy Reserve recruiter. They just told me a couple of weeks ago they would be moving out of state with my daughter when they find out where they would be going. She filed a petition in court even though they have no specific place they are moving just yet. 

What are the chances of her being allowed to move? Since her new husband is trying to better the quality of life for his new family, I am concerned the court may allow a move. Does my relationship with my daughter outweigh my ex's new husband from what he wants to do?

Question: My ex-wife remarried and I have two boys with her, 15 and 10 years old. Her new husband supports her. She has her own cleaning business and makes about $600 per week. But she only reports she makes $400 a month when it to comes child support time. 

She recently got an increase in child support last year, but I have been unemployed for a year and looking for work. I am barely making it on my own. 

Would I be able to get a child support modification, and what do I need to do? Also, would my ex-wife be able to use my new wife’s income for her child support modifications in the future to get more money?

Question: I have been divorced for about nine years now and my ex is remarried. Does she still get part of my military retirement when I retire even though she’s remarried? 

Also, my son turns 18 in March but he will be in high school until May and the child support in the divorce says minor child. So when do I stop paying child support? Once he turns 18?