This is such a helpful thread! I'm actually in a similar boat - getting divorced and my ex worked for the state while I've always worked private sector jobs. Reading through all these responses has been really reassuring. The key takeaway seems to be that WEP only applies if YOU personally worked in non-covered employment, not if you receive pension money from someone else's non-covered work through divorce. @Liv Park, I'm definitely going to follow your lead and get something in writing from SSA before I file for my benefits in a few years. Thanks everyone for sharing your knowledge and experiences!

This thread has been incredibly informative! I'm a Social Security disability attorney and I see confusion about WEP/GPO issues all the time. You're all absolutely correct that WEP only applies when the individual personally worked in non-covered employment. @Liv Park, your situation is a textbook example of where WEP should NOT apply - you've paid into Social Security your entire nursing career, and receiving a portion of your ex-husband's pension through divorce decree doesn't change that. The fact that PERS sends the payment directly to you doesn't make it "your" pension from non-covered employment. It's still considered property division from divorce. Getting written confirmation is smart, and asking for the specific POMS citation (likely RS 00605.364 for your situation) will help ensure consistency if you need to reference it later. Working those extra 2 years to hit 30 years of substantial earnings is also a great safety net, though it shouldn't be necessary in your case.

Smart move deciding to wait! I'm 65 and went through this exact analysis two years ago. One thing to add - since you're actively running a landscape business, you might want to consider gradually transitioning some of the day-to-day operations to employees or subcontractors as you get closer to your claiming strategy. This could help reduce your Schedule C net profit (which counts toward the earnings test) while still maintaining ownership income. Also, double-check that your rental properties are properly classified as passive income on your tax returns. If you're doing significant property management work yourself (more than material participation), the IRS might classify some of that as active business income, which would then count against the SS earnings test. I ended up creating a 5-year plan to gradually reduce my active business income while keeping my investment income steady. It's working out well so far!

One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is the potential tax implications of your decision. With $19k monthly income, you're likely in a higher tax bracket now than you might be in retirement. Social Security benefits can be taxable (up to 85% of benefits for higher earners), so claiming later when you might have lower overall income could actually be more tax-efficient. Also, consider that if you're still actively working and earning at this level, you probably don't NEED the Social Security income right now for living expenses. The "guaranteed" 8% annual increase from delayed retirement credits until age 70 is pretty hard to beat in today's investment environment, especially with no risk. I'd suggest running the numbers with a fee-only financial planner who can model different scenarios including the tax implications. Sometimes the break-even point for waiting vs. claiming early is much longer than people realize when you factor in taxes and investment opportunity costs.

I've been fighting this battle for my retired teacher sister for years. Even with the current awful GPO rules, make sure they calculate everything correctly. Get your friend to request a Benefit Verification Letter that shows exactly how they calculated everything. Sometimes they don't apply the correct COLA increases to the deceased spouse's benefit before applying the offset. Also, make sure they're using her GROSS pension amount, not her net take-home after health insurance and tax deductions. I've seen them make this mistake too!

As someone new to understanding these rules, I'm wondering - if your friend does end up being eligible for some survivor benefits now, would she also need to worry about taxes on those benefits? At 89 with limited income from just her teacher's pension, I'm curious if Social Security survivor benefits would be taxable for her or if her total income might be low enough to avoid taxes on them. Just thinking about the overall financial impact if she does qualify.

my neighbors ex died too and she got his benefits and bought a new car with the backpay lol

That's such great news! $530 extra per month is a significant increase. Just wanted to add for anyone else reading this thread - it's worth noting that if you remarry before age 60, you would lose eligibility for these surviving divorced spouse benefits. But since you're already 70, that restriction no longer applies to you. Also, this won't affect any benefits your ex-husband's current spouse (if he had remarried) might be entitled to - multiple people can collect survivor benefits from the same deceased worker's record. Really glad you were able to get through to SSA and get this sorted out!

I just wanted to update everyone - I followed the advice to contact my Congressional representative, and their office actually called me back the same day! They've assigned a caseworker who's going to send an inquiry to SSA on my behalf. She said they often see cases like mine and that having their office involved usually speeds things up significantly. Thanks everyone for your help - I'll post again when I have news!

I went through almost the exact same thing! $28k overpayment after Ticket to Work, waited 16 months for my appeal. What finally broke it loose was filing a complaint with the SSA Office of Inspector General (OIG) online. You can report fraud, waste, and abuse - and this definitely qualifies as administrative negligence since you reported everything properly and they told you to keep the payments! The OIG complaint form is at oig.ssa.gov and it creates a paper trail that SSA has to respond to. Within 6 weeks of filing my OIG complaint, I suddenly got a call from a supervisor at SSA saying they were expediting my case review. Ended up getting 75% of the overpayment waived. Also - and this is important - make sure you're not just dealing with the 1-800 number. Call your local SSA field office directly and ask to speak to a Claims Specialist about your overpayment case. The phone reps often don't have access to the same systems or authority that field office staff do. Hang in there - the system is broken but there ARE ways to get results if you know which buttons to push!