Page 19 - MidWeek - March 22, 2023

Dot Your I’s and
Cross Your T’s Paulette Ito
One of my best friends just retired from the health care industry. She loved her job, and her patients were her joy. She turned 65 last year, and she was exhausted. She never expected to retire at 65 because she enjoyed what she did and figured she had more good years still left in her. But the COVID-related mandates of double (and occasional triple) shifts left her running on fumes. So, one day, she walked into her human resources department and filed retirement papers.
As I mentioned before, my friend was not considering retiring, so her retirement planning started after she submitted the paperwork. Luckily, she has a pension and other investments to support her. She told me that she also made a trip to the Social Security office and discovered she could get part of her husband’s benefits.
Husband!? To my knowledge,
she was divorced and her ex was remarried. Excited as I was about her retirement and all the questions I had about the process, I was still in shock about her husband. She was supposed to have been divorced for the last 25 years! She explained that the divorce lawyer she had 25 years ago, who was working on a retainer, had died. She couldn’t afford another attorney at the time so never pursued it further. Meanwhile, her ex had a lawyer and couldn’t afford additional payments, so that ended the proceedings. They both lived separate lives as a divorced couple but were still technically married. Prior to my friend’s lawyer passing away, she was able to get child support for her four kids. My friend decided to move on with her life.
Before their separation, my friend and her ex were married for more than 10 years, which is the minimum
threshold set by the Social Security administration to receive spousal benefits. For military benefits, the threshold is 20 years. She would not have qualified for her husband’s Social Security benefits had she actually divorced and remarried. Also, during divorce, part of the settlement agreement is the division of retirement benefits. Some benefits need a “qualified domestic relations order,” which is reviewed by the court and ex-spouse. It’s a tedious process, which is why some give up. However, in this case, everything is moot because my friend is still married, as there was no legal separation or divorce filed.
For me, this was very dizzying. After our call, I did a little research on
spousal benefits and divorce benefits. Wow, there is a lot of information! For those of you who are divorced, married to a divorcee or are planning to get divorced, there is a lot to learn. The key takeaways were the importance of documenting all decisions and fully understanding each process. Each party has to recognize what the law is, as well as understand each other’s rights.
But, remember, marriage certificates and divorce decrees are important legal documents. I’ve known people who had bonfires after a breakup or divorce to rid themselves of any trace of the other person’s existence. Don’t do this! Instead, file documents in your Ho‘okele guidebook. If you completed your guidebook with your ex-spouse, you will at
least have their Social Security and maiden name documented. This information will be helpful should you ever need it when filing for benefits. If you don’t have that information documented but can still remember it, write it down in your Ho‘okele guidebook.
Reminding you to have all your important information documented in your Ho‘okele guidebook is just another example of how the “Get Your House In Order” campaign is helping you to dot your i’s and cross your t’s.
The Ho‘okele guidebook was designed to document all your important life-planning details. Hawaiian Financial Federal Credit Union provides this free valuable resource to help everyone in the community be prepared and live their
best lives. Completing your
March 22, 2023 MIDWEEK 19
PAULETTE ITO
SVP Marketing
Hawaiian Financial Federal Credit Union
Ho‘okele prepares brings.
complete the series.
For more information about
“Get Your House In Order,” email GYHO@hificu.com. Also, tune in to KITV at 7 p.m. every Saturday evening to watch the Get Your House In Order TV show. Join Hawai‘i journalist Yunji De Nies as she dives deeper into why we should, and how we can all, get our houses in order.
guidebook truly you for whatever life
1.1 and 1.2 of the guidebook are now at hificu.com/GYHO. is free to download and only available online. Look out for Ho‘okele 1.3 and 1.4 in the coming quarters to
Parts Ho‘okele available Ho‘okele
Scan to download