Ask Larry

Can I Collect Spousal Benefits?

Can I collect spousal benefits I am disabled I receive a disability pension 1700 dollars a month I did not pay into social security don’t have Enough Quarters I am 65

Hi. There's not enough information in your question for me to be able to give you a good answer. To potentially qualify for spousal benefits you'd need to be married to someone who's drawing Social Security retirement or disability benefits. You don't mention what type of disability pension you receive, but if the pension is based on your work for a U.S. governmental (e.g. federal, state, local) employer then any spousal benefits for which you qualify could be offset by 2/3rds of the amount of your government pension. The reason for that is the Government Pension Offset (GPO) provision, which you can learn more about by reading the following Social Security publication: https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10007.pdf.

Best, Jerry

Category: 
Posted: 
Jul 13 2021 - 11:04am
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