Hi Larry,
When I started teaching in 1990 in California, I was told I would not get Social Security benefits because I would no longer be paying into the system. It made perfect sense to me. My husband has put off collecting SS until age 70 this February in order to qualify for more than at age 62. When he was speaking to an advisor at SS, he was told about the government pension offset and that I would not qualify for his SS if he passes before me because It would be considered double dipping! So even though we have been married almost 50 years and have never had “separate anything”, I do not even have rights as good as an EX-WIFE who gets a percentage of her EX-HUSBAND’S. Such a slap in the face after years of educating America’s children. What is wrong with this law? EVERYTHING?
BTW, my district never made this well-known to their teachers because I’m sure there must have been a benefit for CA in handling CALStrs the way they still do to this day!
Is there anything we can do to salvage my end of life years? Most likely without my husband.
Laura

Hi Laura. The Government Pension Offset (GPO) provision has been part of the Social Security law since 1977. GPO provides that if a person collects a pension based on their own work for a governmental agency (e.g. federal, state, local) in the U.S. where their earnings were exempt from Social Security taxes, then any Social Security spousal or survivor benefits for which the person would otherwise qualify must be offset by 2/3rds of the amount of their government pension. Therefore, if your teacher's pension is at least 1.5 times as much as your potential benefit rate from your husband's Social Security record, then you almost certainly couldn't be paid any Social Security spousal or survivor benefits. However, If your teacher's pension is less than 1.5 times as much as your spousal or survivor rate, then you could potentially be paid a partial Social Security benefit.

By the way, GPO applies to divorced spousal and divorced survivor benefits the same as it does to spousal and widow(er) benefits. There are exceptions to the GPO provision, but nothing you mention in your question makes me think you would meet any of the exemptions. For more information on GPO and it's exceptions, refer to the following Social Security publication: https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10007.pdf.

Best, Jerry