One more important point: The earnings limit applies only to earned income (wages or self-employment). It does NOT apply to investment income, pension payments, annuities, capital gains, or other government benefits. So if some of your $38,000 comes from these sources, it wouldn't count toward the earnings limit.

Don't panic! This is actually a pretty common situation and it's not as bad as it seems. The key thing is to report your expected earnings to SSA as soon as possible - don't wait until tax time. You can do this through your mySocialSecurity account online or by calling them. They'll adjust your payments going forward rather than demanding a lump sum repayment. Since you're earning $38K and the limit is $22,320, they'll withhold about $7,840 total ($15,680 over ÷ 2 = $7,840). This typically means they'll stop your monthly checks for several months until that amount is recovered, then resume payments. The silver lining is that when you reach your Full Retirement Age, SSA will recalculate your benefit to account for those withheld months, giving you a permanently higher monthly payment. So while it's stressful now, you're not actually losing that money long-term.

To address your tax question: auxiliary benefits paid to dependents are potentially taxable to the dependents, not to you. But minor children and most disabled adult children rarely have enough other income to trigger taxation of Social Security benefits. Regarding the whole family applying: The family maximum will be the same regardless of who applies, but having different people apply changes how the money is distributed. Since SSI serves as a floor for your disabled daughter, having her receive benefits on your record typically works out better overall because it frees up SSI funds for others who need them. As for your wife waiting until the children age out: there's no penalty for her waiting since she's already at FRA. From a household income perspective, it might make sense for her to wait if the proportional reduction would give her very little now, but she could get the full 50% of your PIA after the children age out. If I were you, I'd have everyone apply now, then reassess when your minor children approach 18.

One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is timing considerations for your wife's application. Since she's already at FRA, she won't face any early filing penalties, but there might be strategic advantages to coordinating when she applies relative to your children. I'd suggest calling SSA and asking them to run a "what-if" scenario showing your family maximum distribution with different combinations of applicants. They should be able to show you: 1) Total household income with just the 3 kids applying 2) Total household income with wife + 3 kids 3) How much your disabled daughter's SSI would be reduced in each scenario Also, keep in mind that your minor children's benefits will automatically terminate when they turn 18 (unless they're still in high school), so your wife's benefit amount would increase at that point when fewer people are sharing the family maximum. This might influence whether she should wait or apply now. The asset limit difference between SSI and DAC benefits that others mentioned is huge - definitely get your disabled daughter switched over to DAC as soon as possible for that reason alone.

BTW be careful about any retroactive benefits they might try to give you!!! My friend switched at her FRA and they offered her 6 months of retroactive benefits which SEEMED great but actually permanently reduced her monthly amount!!! The rules are super complicated and the reps don't always explain everything correctly.

I'm going through something very similar right now! I'm 63 and have been on survivor benefits since my wife passed in 2022. The online system is absolutely useless for our situation - I get the same message about information not being available. What I ended up doing was calling the SSA national number (1-800-772-1213) early in the morning around 8 AM when they open. The wait was still about 45 minutes, but much better than later in the day. The agent was able to pull up my estimated retirement benefit right over the phone and explain the difference. In my case, my survivor benefit is higher, but she also explained that I could potentially switch to my own retirement benefit later if it grows enough with delayed retirement credits. The key thing I learned is that you really need to speak with someone directly - the online tools just aren't designed for people in our situation. One tip: have your Social Security number and your late husband's SSN ready when you call. They'll need both to access all the information.

EVERYONE impacted by WEP and GPO should join advocacy groups fighting to repeal these unfair penalties! There are bills in Congress almost every year to reform or repeal them but they never pass because most people don't understand these rules until they're personally affected! I'm part of a retired teachers group that's lobbying on this issue. The Social Security Fairness Act would repeal both WEP and GPO but it keeps stalling in Congress. Google "repeal WEP GPO" to find groups in your state working on this. Public servants are getting ROBBED of benefits and it needs to STOP!

I'm in a very similar situation - divorced teacher with a state pension trying to figure out the GPO maze! One thing that helped me was getting a copy of my Social Security Statement online at ssa.gov/myaccount to see what MY estimated benefits would be on my own record vs. what I might potentially get as an ex-spouse (before GPO reduction). Also, I found out that some states have different pension systems - mine allows "dual coverage" where I paid into both Social Security AND the state pension for certain years. If you had any years like that, those might affect your calculations. The key thing I learned is that GPO is based on your GROSS monthly pension amount, not what you actually take home after taxes and deductions. So if your pension statement shows $2,250 gross but you only get $1,800 after taxes/insurance, they still use the $2,250 for the GPO calculation. Definitely worth getting professional help navigating this - the rules are so complex and the stakes are too high to guess wrong!

My sister had to call like 6 or 7 times before she got someone who actually knew how to calculate survivor benefits. Not all the reps are trained on all the different benefits I guess. So frustrating!

I'm dealing with a similar situation right now and it's incredibly frustrating! What finally worked for me was going to a different SSA office - apparently some locations have more experienced staff than others. The first office I went to couldn't help at all, but the second office had someone who knew exactly how to pull up survivor benefit calculations. Also, try asking them to print out your husband's earnings record (Form SSA-7004). Even if they can't calculate your exact survivor benefit on the spot, having his complete earnings history can help you or a financial advisor estimate what you should expect. The survivor benefit is typically based on what he was receiving (or would have received at FRA), so that earnings record is key. One more tip - bring a notebook and write down the name of whoever helps you. If you get conflicting information later, you can reference who told you what. I learned this the hard way after getting three different benefit estimates from three different reps!