My wife passed away in July of 2021. She had a SS benefit check of $450 a month. I'm a retired school teacher from LAUSD and have a retirement benefit from Calstrs plus a small SS benefit check of $196 a month which is based on the fact that I worked out side of teaching to earn SS credits!!!! Upon the death of my wife should I not receive a higher SS check based on her higher SS earnings as the surviving spouse????

Hi. I'm sorry for your loss. Even though you likely meet the technical requirements for widower benefits, it sounds like the Government Pension Offset (GPO) would probably prevent you from actually being able to collect any additional monthly benefits. The GPO provision states that if a person is receiving a pension based on their earnings from a federal, state or local government agency in the U.S. that were exempt from Social Security taxes, then any Social Security spousal or survivor benefits for which they'd otherwise qualify must be offset by 2/3rds of the amount of their government pension (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10007.pdf).

Therefore, unless your Calstrs pension is less than 2/3rds of the difference between your benefit rate and your wife's benefit rate, your monthly widower benefit rate would almost certainly be reduced to zero. However, there is a one time lump sum death benefit of $255 for which you'd likely qualify (https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/handbook/handbook.04/handbook-0430.html). If you haven't already applied for the lump sum death benefit you should probably contact Social Security to do so as soon as possible, because in order to be eligible for the benefit you must file an application within 2 years of your spouse's death.

Best, Jerry