In April 2015 my wife filed for her spousal social security benefits after I filed and suspended. Social Security started her benefits, but reduced them by two-thirds in a letter dated June 2, 2015. Later in June 2015 we appealed Social Security's decision to withhold two-thirds of my wife's spousal benefit, because they "reduce benefits paid to wives if they also receive a government pension based on their own work." Their decision has to do with the Government Pension Offset law, which does not apply in her case according to our reading of the Government Pension Offset law. We have contacted Social Security several times by phone and in the local office. After 2 and a half years, we're still waiting for the result of her appeal.They said the case is being handled by their Baltimore office, which is supposedly the busiest appeals jurisdiction. No one at Social Security seems to be able to help us or tell us when we can get the result of her appeal. If the appeal goes against us, we will need a lawyer to fight the ruling. We have tried multiple ways to find a lawyer who can help us, but they all seem to handle just social security disability or SSI. We have had no communication from Social Security about our appeal, except to tell us they've received the appeal and we'll have to wait for the appeals "court" to rule. In our first phone call to Social Security we were told the GPO was applied because they assumed that in the 1970s my wife didn't pay into social security in a state government job when in fact she was raising 3 kids and not working. The GPO law says it does not apply when the worker has paid into Social Security over the last 5 years of working, which she did.
We have not been able to find anyone who can help us and we think Social Security should have an answer after 2 and a half years.
Any help you can provide will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Hi,

It sounds like what Social Security is describing to you is the Appeals Council (AC). The AC review is the third step in the appeals process, and it usually takes an extremely long time to receive a review and decision from the AC (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10041.pdf).

I don't have enough details about your wife's circumstances to know if GPO would apply in her case, nor do I know of any way to expedite an AC determination. You may want to try contacting the offices of one of your Congressional representatives to tell them of your plight and see if they would be willing to intervene on your behalf.

Best, Jerry