My husband is a retired letter carrier and does not receive social security benefits. He has health issues and recently got a kidney transplant. Is he entitled to spousal benefits from my social security? He is 73 and I am 71. He has been retired since 2008.

Hi. The short answer is, probably not. If your husband applies for spousal benefits it sounds like he would be likely be technically entitled, but there is a Government Pension Offset (GPO) provision that would probably prevent him from actually collecting any spousal benefits. Assuming that your husband receives a civil service pension based on his earnings that were exempt from Social Security taxes, then any Social Security spousal or survivor benefits for which he would otherwise qualify would almost certainly be offset by 2/3rds of the amount of his civil service pension.

Therefore, it sounds like your husband could probably only be paid spousal benefits if his spousal benefit rate is more than 2/3rds of the amount of his civil service pension. However, without knowing all of the actual facts involved, I can't give you a definite answer. Your husband may want to file an application for spousal benefits in order to get a formal determination of his eligibility from Social Security.

Best, Jerry