Retired with funds coming from Orange County. Was working in hospital that was OC facility until UC Irvine took over. My husband died 2017. I’m being refused his Sociial Security because I’m receiving government pension. It’s Orange County pension. I lacked 2 yrs and did not complete Social Security pay in. I feel I should be payed my husbands benefits. He worked at Boeing. Retired with 39 years in aeronautics.

Hi. I'm sorry for your loss. If you're collecting a pension from a governmental agency in the U.S. (e.g. federal, state, local) that's based on your earnings that were exempt from Social Security taxes, then any spousal or widow's benefits for which you would otherwise be eligible would almost certainly be offset by 2/3rds of the amount of your government pension. That's because of the Government Pensions Offset (GPO) provision that was put into law by Congress in the 1980's (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10007.pdf). Therefore, if your Orange County pension if more than 1.5 times as much as your potential Social Security widow's benefit rate then your widow's benefit amount would almost certainly be reduced to zero.

If you've applied for widow's benefits and received a determination from Social Security you could file an appeal, but I don't know what your chances of success might be. You don't mention your age or your pension and survivor benefit rates, so I can't give you any specific advice.

Best, Jerry