My ex husband passed away November 2018. We were married for 23 years before our divorce. The SS office tells me I don’t qualify to receive any benefits from him because we were divorced, and I receive a state teacher pension. Shouldn’t I get something for those 23 years of marriage?
Thanks so much!

Hi. There aren't enough details in your question for me to be able to give you a proper answer. But, assuming that you meet the requirements for surviving divorced spousal benefits (https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/handbook/handbook.04/handbook-0403.html), then if you apply for benefits your claim will be approved. However, if you're receiving a pension based on your work for a state government agency where your earnings were exempt from Social Security taxes, then any survivor benefits for which you qualify will likely be offset by 2/3rds of the amount of your state pension. And, that could reduce the amount of your Social Security survivor benefit to zero depending on the relative amounts of your Social Security survivor benefit and your state pension.

The reason for the potential offset of survivor benefits is due to the Government Pension Offset (GPO) provision. GPO was added to the Social Security law by Congress in the 1980s. Their reasoning for adding the provision, as well as exceptions to the provision, are explained in the following Social Security publication: https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10007.pdf.

Best, Jerry