I have 32 years of government service under the FERS retirement system, into which I've paid SSI taxes. My spouse is a teacher covered under CALSTRS, and has therefore not paid into SS. She does have the required 40 quarters of work where she paid into SS, however, in addition to her years teaching. Currently, we believe the WEP will eliminate virtually 100% of any small SS benefits for which she is eligible. My question is, would she be eligible to file for spousal SS benefits based on my benefits? At 50% of my anticipated SS income, that would amount to a nice sum. Or does the WEP prevent that situation from occurring?
Thanks for any advice you can provide.

Hi,

Probably not, but not because of the Windfall Elimination Provision, or WEP (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10045.pdf). WEP only affects Social Security benefits payable on a person's own record, and does not eliminate the benefit entirely. When WEP applies, a less generous formula is used to calculate the SS benefit payable. The resulting benefit amount is generally roughly half of the benefit that would otherwise have been payable using the regular formula, sometimes more and sometimes a bit less depending on the person's covered earnings.

The provision that will likely preclude your wife from receiving spousal benefits is the Government Pension Offset (GPO) provision (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10007.pdf). That provision applies to spousal and widow's benefits, and some others, and requires that an amount equal to 2/3rds of the spouse's non-covered government pension be withheld from their Social Security spousal or widow's benefits. If 2/3rds of the person's non-covered government pension amount is higher than their potential Social Security spousal or widow's benefit, the SS benefit is reduced to zero.

One thing that may or may not matter in your wife's situation is that neither WEP nor GPO apply until the person starts receiving their non-covered/government pension.

Best, Jerry