Will my deceased spouse's pension reduce my SS survivor benefits at FRA (67)? Working while collecting

This is a complicated situation with a few moving parts. First, regarding your work income - once you reach your Full Retirement Age (67), there is no earnings test, so your work income won't reduce your survivor benefits. However, the pension is a different matter. If your husband's pension was from work where he DIDN'T pay into Social Security (like some state and local government jobs), then yes, the Government Pension Offset (GPO) could reduce your survivor benefits. The reduction is typically 2/3 of your pension amount. If his pension was from work where he DID pay Social Security taxes, then there's no reduction to your survivor benefits. You should definitely contact SSA directly to get a calculation specific to your situation.

DONT wAIT TO FILE!!!! I made this EXACT SAME MISTAKE waiting til my FRA. You should file for survivors NOW and let them reduce it for working. The reduction for working stops at FRA but if there's a government pension offset that NEVER goes away!!!! So your essentially loosing money every month your not collecting. SSA wont tell you this stuff unless you ask exactly the right question!!!!!

I recently helped my mom with something similar. The key question is whether your husband's pension was from a job that paid into Social Security or not. If it didn't (sounds like it might be a "non-covered" pension), then unfortunately the GPO (Government Pension Offset) will reduce your survivor benefits by 2/3 of your pension amount. So if you get $2,150/month pension, they'll reduce your survivor benefit by about $1,433. If your survivor benefit would have been less than that amount, you might not get anything at all. It's really frustrating! But definitely check with SSA because there are exceptions sometimes. I found I couldn't get through to SSA on the phone after trying for weeks, but I used this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me connected to a real person at SSA within 20 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU. It was super helpful for getting my mom's situation sorted out since these calculations can be really specific to your situation.

My condolences on your loss. When my husband died I was so confused about all this too. Just remember the funeral directors dont know anything about SS rules they just hand out papers.

you should look into restricted application if ur eligible. my neighborr did this and got more $$$. not sure exactly how it works but worth looking into.

I'm going through almost the same thing right now! My situation is a bit different because I'm dealing with my own pension not my husbands. I worked as a teacher for 30 years so my Social Security is reduced because of WEP. It's all so unfair how they treat us public servants. I spent hours on the phone with SSA last week trying to understand it all.

Since you're turning 63 and plan to wait until 67 (your FRA), here are the key points to consider: 1. The Government Pension Offset (GPO) will likely apply since your husband's pension comes from a state government job that didn't pay into Social Security. 2. The GPO reduction is 2/3 of your gross pension amount, so approximately $1,433 will be deducted from your survivor benefit. 3. Your earnings won't affect your survivor benefits once you reach FRA (67), but they would reduce benefits if you claimed earlier. 4. To make an informed decision, you need to know what your survivor benefit amount would be before the GPO reduction. This amount is based on what your husband would receive if he were alive at your FRA. 5. Request a detailed calculation from SSA showing both your survivor benefit amount and the GPO reduction. This will help you determine if you'll receive any benefit after the reduction. The optimal claiming strategy depends on these numbers. If the GPO would eliminate most or all of your survivor benefit, it might make sense to claim earlier and accept the earnings reduction.

Sending hugs. Its so hard dealing with all this paperwork when youre grieving.