I retired at 52 (nine years ago) from the State of Ohio. My husband passed away before he retired so I can not get his full pension, but SS said I can’t get his SS either (after he paid in for 40+ years) because I make “too much” . Is that correct?

Hi. I can't be sure without more information, but based on the limited information in your question it sounds like your problem likely involves the Government Pension Offset (GPO) provision (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10007.pdf). Due to GPO, if a person is receiving a pension based on their work for a governmental agency in the U.S. where their earnings were exempt from Social Security taxes, then any Social Security spousal or survivor benefits for which they would otherwise qualify are offset by 2/3rds of the amount of their government pension.

In other words, if you didn't pay Social Security taxes on your earnings for the State of Ohio and if you're drawing a pension based on those earnings, then you could likely only be paid Social Security widow's benefits if your widow's rate is more than 2/3rds of the amount of your state government pension.

Our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) is fully programmed to handle cases involving GPO, so you may want to consider using the software to see what options may be available to you.

Best, Jerry