Ask Larry

Can I Also Get My Deceased Ex's Social Security If I'm Receiving A CSRS Pension?

I am recieving a pension from csrs . I get survivor benefits from my deceased husband who was also csrs. Can I also get my deceased ex husbands social security?
They said no .

Hi,

If the only CSRS pension you receive is a survivor pension, that wouldn't interfere with your ability to draw Social Security survivor benefits if you meet the requirements (https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/handbook/handbook.04/handbook-0403.html). However, if you receive a CSRS pension based on your own federal work that was exempt from Social Security taxes, then any Social Security surviving divorced spousal benefits that you would otherwise qualify for would likely be offset by 2/3rds of the amount of your own CSRS pension. In that case, if your own CSRS pension is at least one and one-half times as much as your potential Social Security survivor rate then your Social Security survivor benefits would be offset to zero.

For more information on the Government Pension Offset Provision (GPO) and it's exceptions, refer to the following Social Security publication: https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10007.pdf.

Best, Jerry

Posted: 
Oct 5 2019 - 3:23pm
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