Social security
My wife and I are 79 years old, widow and widower,and both collect social security with my wife collecting on her own record and also receiving a pension from her husbands time as a federal employee. Is my wife entitled to half of my social security benefits?
Terry Says
That all depends on the size of her benefit, and yours. Don’t count on SS to give you the correct answer. Go to www.MaximizeMySocialSecurity.com and let them run the numbers for you, to make sure that all issues are considered.
Her benefits are likely reduced by the fact that her husband was a federal employee, although she gets his pension as an offset. The is not ALSO entitled to your benefit. But she is entitled to half your benefit — if it is larger than her own benefit. Even then, because of the GPO offset, she may get less than half.
And that incredible complexity is why you really want to run this program which will take all these issues into account. It costs $49, help is available, and it could make a big difference over the long run.
