After struggling with similar SSA phone issues, I finally found a service called Claimyr that got me through to an agent in under 10 minutes! It basically navigates the SSA phone system for you and calls you back when it reaches an agent. Saved me hours of frustration when I needed answers about my application status. There's a video showing how it works at https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU - definitely worth checking out if you're desperate to speak with someone about your case. Getting answers directly from SSA is critical with these GPO implementation questions.

UPDATE: My mom finally got through to someone and they told her the GPO repeal benefits start paying out in JULY 2025! So even though the law passed, they're still denying applications until then. Did anyone else hear this???

my neighbor worked for the post office and had the same question when she got promoted. she said her benefit estimate went up about $200/month after her higher salary was recorded but it took almost a year to show up in the system. might be different for you tho.

One more thing to consider: If you're within a few years of retirement, you might want to check whether your 2024 earnings will replace one of your 35 highest years. If you've consistently earned a good income throughout your career, a single year's increase may have less impact than if you have some lower-earning or zero years in your calculation. You can see your year-by-year earnings history in your my Social Security account to get a better idea of how significant this increase might be to your overall calculation.

My friend tried to do this but found out her ex had barely worked under social security because he was a teacher with a pension. She ended up getting almost nothing from his record. Do you know if your ex worked consistently under Social Security?

One final tip - when you do file, make sure to specifically tell SSA you want to file for divorced spouse benefits. Sometimes they don't check automatically even though they should. Bring your marriage certificate and divorce decree to your appointment. You might also need his Social Security number, but if you don't have it, SSA can usually find it with his name and date of birth.

My husband was in this EXACT situation!!! His bday is in March but he waited till June to file (FRA) because we heard horror stories about the SSA messing up people's payment amounts when they file right at their birthday month! So we waited a few extra months just to be safe. Dunno if thats really necessary but we didnt want any mistakes!!!!

One other thing to consider - since your husband is still working at a good salary, his Social Security benefit amount might actually increase slightly if his current earnings are higher than some earlier years in his earnings record. SSA uses the highest 35 years of indexed earnings to calculate benefits. This is especially true if he had any years with low earnings or gaps in his work history. Each additional high-earning year can bump out a lower year in the calculation. So waiting those extra months could potentially increase his benefit by more than just avoiding the early filing reduction.

Is anyone else confused by how Social Security calculates EVERYTHING? I swear it's like they purposely make it complicated so we don't understand what we're entitled to. My sister and I both went on disability around the same time with similar work histories and her payment is almost $300 more than mine every month!!! When I asked SSA why they just gave me some mumbo jumbo about "computation years" and "indexed earnings" that made zero sense.

Regarding the part-time work your brother-in-law did while on disability - that $10,000 might actually make a difference. Disability benefits are calculated using a "freeze period" that excludes years of low/no earnings due to disability. When converting to retirement, sometimes additional earnings during the disability period can be included in the calculation. I recommend he create an account at my.ssa.gov (if he hasn't already) where he can view his earnings history and benefit verification. Then, about 3 months before reaching FRA, he should contact SSA specifically requesting a recalculation that includes those earnings during his disability period. He should be prepared with documentation of those earnings just in case.