Hello Larry,

My grandmother who is 81 years old recently lost her husband that was receiving social security. She currently has a pension from UCLA Hospital and applied for my grandfather social security but was denied because she made too much. She only makes 1200 a month and her mortgage is 867 plus her car and insurance and other bills, the money she receives is not enough to cover all these obligation. Is there anything she can do to get social security benefits?

Hi,

From your description, I'm assuming that your grandmother isn't eligible for Social Security from her own record because her earnings at UCLA hospital were exempt from Social Security taxes.

If a widow is receiving a pension based on her work for a government entity that was exempt from Social Security taxes, their Social Security widow's benefits are normally subject to offset in the amount of 2/3rds of the gross amount of their government pension. This is due to the Government Pension Offset (GPO) provision. For more information about GPO and exceptions to the provision, refer to this Social Security publication: https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10007.pdf.

Best, Jerry