Hi Larry, I work for a state agency and will receive a state pension when I retire, Im divorced from my ex wife Who I was married to for 12 years, I also have accrued enough social security credits (48) on my own while working in the private sector before my state job, my question is will I be able to collect on my ex wife's S/S record and will that also be subject to the Windfall Elimination Provision because of the pension I will receive and if so how much will I lose from it. Thank you so much

Hi. Divorced spousal benefits aren't subject to reduction based on the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), but they can be subject to offset due to the Government Pension Offset (GPO) provision. If you'll be receiving a state pension based on your earnings that were exempt from Social Security taxes, then any divorced spousal or survivor benefits for which you'd otherwise qualify would almost certainly be offset by 2/3rds of the amount of your state pension. Therefore, you could only receive benefits from your ex-spouse's account if the state pension you receive is less than 150% of your divorced spousal/survivor benefit amount.

However, if you have at least 40 quarters (QC) of Social Security covered earnings then you'll be eligible for at least some Social Security retirement benefits when you're at least age 62. It sounds like WEP will likely reduce the amount of your Social Security retirement benefit, but WEP never reduces a person's benefit rate to zero.

Best, Jerry