My mother (DOB: 1937) worked the minimum quarters for SS in private business and receives about $1600.00 per year in benefits which doesn't even cover the medicare costs. She has to pay for the difference for medicare. Mom then worked for the Federal Govt for 30 years and retired in 1990s. She is still allowed only to draw the very small amount of SS when a friend that never worked draws half of her husbands SS. My father worked for the State of Michigan so he gets a pension AND SS. Why the difference? I realize mom didn't pay in for SS but neither did the friend that is drawing off her husband. Doesn't seem right when she wasn't given the option as a federal employee.

Hi. If your mother receives a Civil Service (CSRS) pension based on her earnings that weren't subject to Social Security taxes, then any Social Security spousal or survivor benefits for which she'd otherwise qualify would likely be offset by 2/3rds of the amount of her CSRS pension. That's due to the Government Pension Offset (GPO) provision that was added to the Social Security law by Congress in the early 1980s.

Assuming that your mother's Social Security spousal or survivor rate would amount to less than 2/3rds of the amount of her CSRS pension, then she likely couldn't be paid any monthly spousal or survivor benefits from Social Security. For more information about GPO and it's exceptions, refer to the following Social Security publication: https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10007.pdf.

It's important to note that I don't have access to all of the facts involved in your mother's case, so I can't advise you regarding any benefit options that she may have. Our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) is programmed to handle GPO calculations, so you may want to consider using the software to fully analyze your mother's possible benefit options.

Best, Jerry