Yes, the Government Pension Offset (GPO) would still apply to spousal benefits if you receive a pension from work not covered by Social Security. The GPO typically reduces spousal/widow(er) benefits by 2/3 of your government pension amount. For example, if your government pension is $3,000/month, your spousal benefits would be reduced by $2,000. If the spousal benefit would have been $1,500, you'd receive $0 after the GPO reduction ($1,500 - $2,000 = less than $0). This is separate from the WEP, which affects your own benefit based on your own work record. The GPO affects benefits based on someone else's work record.

The whole WEP/GPO thing is just the government STEALING money from teachers and public servants who worked hard their whole lives!!! My aunt lost over $700/month because of this garbage. Called her congressman and everything but nothing changed. Complete scam!!!!

Yes, PTO payouts count as earnings in the month they're paid for the earnings test. If possible, you might want to arrange to have your PTO payout occur before you start claiming Social Security. Another option would be to use all your PTO before retirement instead of taking the cash payout, if your employer allows it. That way you could effectively stop working earlier while still receiving your regular salary (which would count as earnings during those last weeks/months). But the most important thing to understand is that in your first year of benefits, you have the monthly earnings test option, which makes your pre-claim earnings irrelevant to the earnings test calculation.

I've been helping my dad with the exact same situation! For part-time work after you claim, keep in mind that if you're self-employed, SSA looks at both your earnings AND your work activity. Even if you don't pay yourself much, if you're working a lot of hours they can still count it as substantial earnings. This tripped up my dad who continued managing his rental properties after claiming. Just something to consider if your part-time work might involve self-employment.

is she getting medicare too? make sure to tell them to keep her medicare part b payment the same if she gets higher ss. otherwise they might increase the premium based on higher income

Just to clarify on the retroactive benefits question you asked: For survivor benefits, SSA can pay up to 6 months of retroactive benefits before the application date. Unfortunately, they won't go back to the date of death if it's been almost 2 years. One important note: When she's approved for survivor benefits, SSA will stop her current retirement benefit and start paying the survivor benefit instead (assuming it's higher, which sounds likely in your case). This is a complete switch, not an add-on to her current benefit. Also, while gathering documents, make sure she has her banking information ready for direct deposit if she wants to change where the payments go.

my condolences for your loss. i found that when dealing with SS, emails work better than calls. they have to respond and theres a record of what they told you. try emailing them for the estimate instead of calling.

Thanks everyone for your helpful responses. I've learned so much! I created my SSA account but couldn't find a way to see my wife's records there. I'm going to try calling again using the specific wording suggested here about requesting a "survivor benefit calculation." Based on everyone's input, I'm now rethinking my strategy. With the earnings test, it might make more sense to wait until closer to my FRA since I plan to continue working. I had no idea that making $72k would essentially wipe out most of the survivor benefit at age 60. I'm going to make an in-person appointment at my local office to get concrete numbers. If the phone waits are as bad as they've been in the past, I might try that Claimyr service someone mentioned. I'll update here once I get more information from SSA!

Has anyone tried using the My Social Security online account to report estimated earnings? I've heard mixed things about whether it actually works for this specific situation.

Update: I finally got through to SSA after trying that Claimyr service someone mentioned. The rep explained that since I reported my expected earnings now, they'll reduce my monthly checks for the rest of 2025 instead of stopping them completely. Each check will be about $600 less than normal. Not great, but at least now I can budget for it! She also confirmed I need to submit the SSA-795 form right away. Thanks for all the advice everyone!

I had similar trouble reaching SSA when dealing with my husband's survivor benefits. After using Claimyr to get through to SSA (claimyr.com), I discovered I was eligible for both survivor benefits AND my own retirement, but could only receive the higher of the two. The SSA agent explained that at 62, I could choose to take my own reduced retirement benefit if it was higher than my survivor benefit, or I could wait until FRA for a higher amount. They ran different scenarios so I could see which would provide more lifetime benefits. Definitely worth getting that personalized analysis.

My aunt went thru something similar with federal workers comp after my uncle died. The WC people kept talking about "retirement age" but what they really meant was that the CALCULATION for the offset changes, not that your benefits automatically switch to something else. Its super confusing and the WC people dont explain it very well!!! Your survivor benefits keep going as long as you dont remarry (at least that was true for my aunt).

Just to clarify an important point: You can only SUSPEND benefits after you reach Full Retirement Age (which is 66+10 months for someone born in 1959). Before FRA, your only options are to withdraw (with full repayment) or work and have benefits reduced by the earnings test. If you're planning to work for several more years, letting the earnings test reduce your benefits might be simplest. When you reach FRA, Social Security will recalculate your benefit amount to give credit for months when benefits were withheld.

make sure u tell ss when u start the new job. they dont automatically know ur working and if they find out later ull have a big overpayment to deal with!!

Just wondering this too. My husband has his parents burial plots too. So he actually has 4 plots! Good to know they dont count them.

Has anyone here tried calling the SSA directly about resource questions? I spent 3 hours on hold last week trying to get a straight answer about my mom's life insurance policy and never got through. So frustrating!

u already got medicare right? make sure u signed up if ur 65 that's the one with the enrollment period thing

anybody know if taking ss early affects spouse benefits?? my wife never worked much

check your my social security account. sometimes the payment shows up there before it hits your bank. also the website status is useless, never updates right. good luck!

One additional point: Since we're now past January 15th, if your application truly is fully processed but you haven't received payment, you might need to check if there's an issue with your direct deposit information. Sometimes applications get held up in the final stage due to payment delivery problems. If you visit your local office, ask specifically if there are any "payment exceptions" or "non-receipt" issues with your record. These are specific technical terms that might help the representative identify if there's a payment that was approved but not properly delivered.