Thank you for setting me straight. The way my attorney explained it was I retired and took SS benefits, my spouse would get half.
They divorce in Villages and stay together but swap mailing addresses with friends so they are applying from the same address. I don’t know if it matters but I was told that is how they do it.
They also work the same thing here for Medicaid. Get divorced, spouse gets all the assets other spouse (sick one) gets monthly support, Then Medicaid only gets the monthly spousal support instead of half the assets ($1500 is the max assets for eligibility).