Just curious - did you or your wife pay into Social Security? If your wife didn't have enough work credits that could be another issue. For survivor benefits the deceased needs 40 credits (10 years work) OR if they died young sometimes fewer credits. But SOMEONE needs to have paid in for benefits to be available.

Based on everything you've shared, I believe you have a case worth pursuing. The fact that: 1. You both had legal custody before your wife passed 2. You were actively in the adoption process 3. You were providing support and care for the child 4. Your wife had sufficient work credits All point to a potential approval with proper representation. I'd suggest: 1. Contact the National Organization of Social Security Claimants' Representatives (NOSSCR) to find a qualified attorney 2. Gather ALL documentation showing the timeline of custody, adoption process, and your wife's involvement 3. Request a formal reconsideration rather than just calling again 4. Reference your previous inquiry to maintain the retroactive date I've seen cases like yours succeed, but they typically require persistence and proper legal representation.

my uncle worked for govt and when he died my aunt got like half his pension. she said the paperwork was a mess though. good luck

One thing nobody mentioned - if you're planning to work while collecting survivor benefits, be aware of the earnings limit! In 2025 if you earn over $24,000 (I think that's the new amount), they'll deduct $1 from benefits for every $2 you earn above that limit. The limit goes away when you reach full retirement age though.

One additional point that hasn't been mentioned yet: Your wife's decision to claim at 62 will permanently reduce her own benefit by about 30% compared to her FRA amount. This won't affect your potential spousal benefit on her record (since you're waiting until your FRA), but it will reduce her monthly income for the rest of her life. If she can afford to wait even a year or two beyond 62, she could significantly increase her lifetime benefits. Each year she delays between 62 and her FRA adds about 6-8% to her monthly benefit amount.

When I was trying to figure all this out last year I actually downloaded the 2025 SSA calculator from their website and put in all our numbers. It was super helpful to see the actual dollar amounts we'd get under different scenarios! Highly recommend doing that.

To follow up on your retroactivity question - the GPO repeal was effective December 2023, so if you apply now, you can request retroactive benefits back to December 2023, but SSA generally limits retroactivity to 6 months for survivor benefits. So realistically, you'd likely only get retroactive payments for about 6 months, not all the way back to December 2023 unless you applied very soon. Also, when you go to your appointment, make sure you bring: 1. Your husband's death certificate 2. Your marriage certificate 3. Both your Social Security cards 4. The previous denial letter that mentions GPO 5. Documentation of your pension This will help ensure your claim is processed correctly. And as others have mentioned, be prepared to be persistent. The GPO repeal is still relatively new, and not all SSA representatives are fully trained on handling these cases.

Yes, I did finally get my benefits sorted out but it took using Claimyr to finally reach someone who knew what they were doing. Got a specialist who handles WEP/GPO cases and she fixed everything. Worth every penny to avoid the hours of frustration! And FYI for your calculation - the 2022 COLA was 5.9%, 2023 was 8.7% and 2024 was 3.2%. So if your starting benefit is $2,005 (the 82.5% amount), after all those COLAs it would be around $2,322 now. Much better than what your husband was getting when he passed!

my aunt got divorced after 11 years and she gets benefits from my uncles record even tho they HATE each other lol. social security doesnt care about your feelings just the years!! but she had to wait until he retired before she could claim anything

One additional consideration about your business situation: If you're both taking salaries from the business, ensure you're maximizing your own Social Security contributions. Many business owners make the mistake of minimizing payroll taxes, but this can significantly reduce your future Social Security benefits. Since you mention your benefit is much lower than his, you might want to restructure your compensation to increase your reported earnings (up to the SS wage base of $168,600 for 2025) for your remaining working years. This could potentially increase your own retirement benefit, which might be valuable regardless of what happens with your marital status.