Ask Larry

I am retired from the federal government and receive a generous civil service pension. Although I worked sufficient quarters before and after my federal employment, because of “offset” I receive only a small amount of what I would ordinarily receive from social security. My wife receives a full social security benefit, am I eligible to receive benefits through her social security?

Hi. Probably not. If you receive a pension from your work for a governmental agency in the U.S., then any Social Security spousal or survivor benefits that you qualify for would almost certainly be fully or partially offset due to the Government Pension Offset (GPO) provision (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10007.pdf). It sounds like GPO would cause any spousal or survivor benefits for which you'd otherwise qualify to be offset by 2/3rds of the amount of your government pension. Therefore, unless your spousal benefit rate would amount to more than 2/3rds of the amount of your government pension, your potential spousal benefit rate would almost certainly be reduced to zero.

Best, Jerry