Hi Larry,
My husband passed away 6 years ago. He was a retired Army veteran. After retirement he worked for a security company for a number of years. I am 54 yrs old and will retire at age 56, 2 months and 28 days from the government. Will I be eligible to collect my husband's SS at 60 or will my retirement check disqualify me? I had planned on drawing his retirement at 60 and waiting until 70 to draw my own.
Thanks!

Hi,

I'm sorry for your loss.

The answer to your question depends largely on whether or not you've been paying Social Security taxes on your wages. If you've been paying into Social Security while working for the government, then your government pension shouldn't hinder your ability to collect widow's benefits. However, if your government earnings were exempt from Social Security taxes and you're drawing your government pension, your widow's benefits could then be subject to full or partial withholding due to the Government Pension Offset (GPO) provision (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10007.pdf).

Furthermore, if you receive a pension based on your earnings that were exempt from Social Security taxes, your own Social Security retirement benefits could also be subject to reduction because of the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP).

It sounds like your best strategy for claiming benefits would likely be one of the following:
1) File for reduced widow's benefits at age 60 or as soon as your earnings will permit at least some benefits to be paid, then switch to your own record at age 70; or,
2) File for reduced retirement benefits on your own record at age 62 or as soon as your earnings will permit at least some benefits to be paid, then file for unreduced widow's benefits at full retirement age (FRA).

Normally, you would want to start out drawing the lower benefit first and then switch to the higher benefit when it reaches it's highest potential rate. However, the WEP and GPO provisions could affect your optimal strategy if you've worked for wages that were exempt from Social Security taxes. Our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) is fully programmed to handle calculations involving both WEP and or GPO, so you may want to consider using the software to help you determine the best strategy for maximizing your benefits.

Best, Jerry