Hello. I am new here and I am trying to help my 83 year old Mother-in-law (MIL) on a Social Security issue.
Her husband (my FIL) passed away this past April. He was a retired Civil Service worker (under the old CSRS system), who had also worked significantly in the private-sector during his working years. After he retired he therefore drew a CSRS retirement benefit as well as a Social Security payment each month. My MIL did not have enough employment to draw her own Social Security check, and received a spousal benefit based on her husband’s Social Security.
My FIL had paid into a survivor benefits plan under the CSRS with my MIL as beneficiary. After he died, she applied for a survivor’s annuity from the OPM, based on my FIL’s CSRS employment. She gets 55% of his pension in her annuity.
My question is: Does the Government Pension Offset (GPO) apply to her civil service survivor’s annuity? We have made several calls to Social Security together (I have managed their finances since 2009 and continue to manage hers) wanting to know why Social Security continues to pay her normal spousal benefit instead of a widow’s benefit (FIL’s Social Security payment was significantly higher than her spousal benefit, so her normal widow’s benefit would be several hundred dollars more).
I have been researching this a lot today, and the information I have found is conflicting. Some of it indicates that her CSRS survivor’s annuity does make any SS widow’s benefit subject to the GPO, while other information says it is not supposed to be subject to GPO. She is not a former government employee, and she is receiving a CSRS survivor’s annuity, not a CSRS pension, which would make her widow’s benefit subject to the GPO.
I want to clear this up one way or another so our ducks will be in a row should we make another call to Social Security.
Her husband (my FIL) passed away this past April. He was a retired Civil Service worker (under the old CSRS system), who had also worked significantly in the private-sector during his working years. After he retired he therefore drew a CSRS retirement benefit as well as a Social Security payment each month. My MIL did not have enough employment to draw her own Social Security check, and received a spousal benefit based on her husband’s Social Security.
My FIL had paid into a survivor benefits plan under the CSRS with my MIL as beneficiary. After he died, she applied for a survivor’s annuity from the OPM, based on my FIL’s CSRS employment. She gets 55% of his pension in her annuity.
My question is: Does the Government Pension Offset (GPO) apply to her civil service survivor’s annuity? We have made several calls to Social Security together (I have managed their finances since 2009 and continue to manage hers) wanting to know why Social Security continues to pay her normal spousal benefit instead of a widow’s benefit (FIL’s Social Security payment was significantly higher than her spousal benefit, so her normal widow’s benefit would be several hundred dollars more).
I have been researching this a lot today, and the information I have found is conflicting. Some of it indicates that her CSRS survivor’s annuity does make any SS widow’s benefit subject to the GPO, while other information says it is not supposed to be subject to GPO. She is not a former government employee, and she is receiving a CSRS survivor’s annuity, not a CSRS pension, which would make her widow’s benefit subject to the GPO.
I want to clear this up one way or another so our ducks will be in a row should we make another call to Social Security.
Survivors Benefits: How Does the Social Security Government Pension Offset Work
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