I have received widow's Social Security since my husband's death in 1979. He was disabled but had worked the minimum time that allowed him to receive SS. I will receive a pension when I retire from teaching at UMass next year. Will my monthly SS checks be reduced?

Hi. The answer is almost certainly less, assuming that your earnings on which your pension is based were exempt from Social Security taxes. Social Security's Government Pension Offset (GPO) provision causes a person's spousal or survivor benefits to be offset by 2/3rds of the amount of their government pension, provided that the person is drawing the pension and if they didn't pay Social Security taxes on their government earnings (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10007.pdf).

In other words, if 2/3rds of the full amount of your pension is higher than your Social Security survivor benefit rate, then it sounds like your survivor benefits will likely be reduced to zero. Assuming that you didn't pay Social Security taxes on your earnings from UMass, be sure to notify Social Security when you start drawing your pension so that they can make any necessary adjustment to your survivor benefits.

Best, Jerry