Ex-spouse

It must be maddening to know the chap has some more to spend, but one can't get at it. And after the divorce—and it is stricly comme il faut to divorce a millionaire husband with acrimony—the ex-spouses complain bitterly of being unable to maintain the life of luxury to which they have been trained on the paltry alimony forthcoming for the purpose.

Diane was married to Phil for 15 years and to Jim for 21 years. Phil was the higher earner, with a full retirement benefit of $2,442. Jim's full retirement benefit was $2,136. Diane's own full retirement benefit was only $963. Diane began by collecting half of Phil's benefits at age 66 - $1,221. Her plan was to switch to her own benefit at age 70 when it would have grown to $1,271. But before she reached age 70, Jim passed away. He had waited until age 70 to begin his own benefits, meaning they had grown to $2,819. Diane was eligible to collect the surviving divorced spouse benefit of $2,819 - an increase in monthly benefits of $1,598 over what she was collecting on Phil's earnings record. That is a lifetime difference of more than $383,000, if she lives to be 90. "You can switch back and forth with multiple ex-spouses," says Jim Blankenship, a financial planner who specializes in Social Security benefits. "It's sort of the Elizabeth Taylor scenario." The Hollywood star actually stayed married to just one of her seven husbands long enough to meet Social Security's ten-year rule - Richard Burton. Their 1964 marriage did last more than ten years - and they tied the knot a second time for about 9 months in 1975.

Both of their spouses - well, ex-spouse in regard to Sergey Brin - come from the field of medicine. So they have a personal investment there.

Women filing as heads of households for the first time may get walloped, so it’s important to have a tax projection along with the divorce decree, Ms. George said. Without expert guidance, either ex-spouse can land in financial hot water.