Widow's SS survivor benefits with GPO confusion - civil service employee questions about FRA and benefits calculation

First off, I'm very sorry for your loss. Let me try to help with these questions about survivor benefits and GPO: 1. The lump sum from your pension won't directly offset your survivor benefits dollar-for-dollar. However, your monthly pension will affect your survivor benefits through the Government Pension Offset (GPO). The GPO typically reduces survivor benefits by 2/3 of your monthly government pension amount. 2. For survivor benefits, your FRA depends on your birth year. If you were born in 1959, your FRA for survivor benefits is 66 and 10 months. This is different from retirement benefit FRA. 3. Since your husband claimed early, your survivor benefit will be affected, but it's complicated. You can receive what he was getting at death, what he would have received at his FRA (reduced by your claiming age), or what you're entitled to on your own record - whichever is highest. 4. As a widow, you're eligible for either what he was receiving or up to 100% of his Primary Insurance Amount (what he would've received at his FRA) if you wait until your own FRA to claim. The GPO calculation is particularly tricky with civil service pensions. At your FRA, they'll reduce your survivor benefit by 2/3 of your monthly pension, which is likely why you heard you'd only get 1/3 of the benefit.

I went through this exact situation last year with my late wife's benefits. Your FRA for survivor benefits is definitely 66 and 10 months if you were born in 1959. This is different from your regular retirement FRA, which causes a lot of confusion. For the pension lump sum question - the lump sum itself doesn't trigger GPO, but if you take it as an advance on your pension, it could affect how they calculate your ongoing pension amount, which DOES affect GPO. Ask your pension administrator if the lump sum changes your monthly pension calculation. About your husband claiming early - when you claim survivor benefits, you can get the higher of: 1. What your husband was actually receiving at death (his reduced benefit) 2. 82.5% of his Primary Insurance Amount (if he died before his FRA) You won't benefit from waiting past your survivor FRA of 66 and 10 months. There's no increased benefit for delaying survivor benefits beyond your FRA - unlike retirement benefits which increase until 70.

The Government Pension Offset is THEFT plain and simple!!! My husband paid into Social Security his ENTIRE WORKING LIFE and now I'm being punished because I chose to work for the state??? How is this fair??? We should all be flooding our representatives' offices about this injustice. I worked for 31 years for the county and lost almost ALL of my survivor benefits from my husband because of this ridiculous rule. And good luck getting consistent answers from Social Security. I called SIX TIMES and got SIX DIFFERENT ANSWERS about how much I would receive. They don't even understand their own rules!!!

After spending weeks trying to get through to SSA about my widower benefits, I found a service called Claimyr that got me connected to a real SSA agent in under 10 minutes. Saved me hours of redial frustration! They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU The site is claimyr.com and they basically call SSA for you and connect you when an agent answers. Was absolutely worth it for me because I needed specific answers about my GPO situation too. The agent I finally spoke with was able to pull up my late wife's record and give me exact calculations for my situation.

cant u just quit ur gov job for a month before applying for SS? my uncle did that to avoid WEP i think. something about last day of government employment loophole

One important thing nobody's mentioned: if you're still working at 65, make sure you're properly enrolled in Medicare! This has nothing to do with survivor benefits, but many people miss their enrollment period because they're still working. Your state health insurance might require you to enroll in Medicare Part A at 65 even if you delay Part B. Also, regarding your FRA confusion - SSA representatives sometimes confuse retirement FRA with survivor FRA, which are different for people born between 1945 and 1962. Your survivor FRA is definitely 66 and 10 months if born in 1959.

my mom went thru this exact situation with dads ss when he died. she was a teacher with state pension. GPO took 2/3 of her pension amount away from survivors benefit. she only gets like $317 a month from dad even tho his benefit was over $2000. its really unfair system for govt workers!!!

Quick clarification on your question about your husband's early retirement affecting your survivor benefits: Since your husband claimed at 62 and passed at 65 (before his FRA), your maximum survivor benefit would be the higher of: 1. The benefit he was receiving when he died (reduced for his early claiming) 2. 82.5% of his Primary Insurance Amount (what he would've gotten at his FRA) However, this maximum amount will then be reduced by the GPO (2/3 of your government pension). And if you claim before your survivor FRA (66 and 10 months), it would be further reduced for early claiming. The claiming strategy gets quite complex with GPO involved. If your government pension is substantial, it might wipe out most or all of your survivor benefit regardless of when you claim.

have u checked if there was a lump sum death benefit? its only $255 but its something. also did u get the check for the month he died? my FIL died on the 29th and they took back his last payment because they said he wasnt alive the whole month which seemed really unfair