I am planning to take divorced widow's benefits at age 60 and then my own retirement benefit at age 70.
At age 65, I also have a miniscule pension from the school system I worked for briefly (paid into PERA and not into Social Security). I understand my own retirement benefit which I plan to take at 70 will be WEPed but by no more than 50% of my pension amount. I have less than 20 years of substantial earnings.
My deceased ex-spouse never worked for any employer that did not withhold social security tax. He had 28 years of substantial earnings.
Questions:
1a. Will my divorced widow's benefit be impacted by my pension at all (age 60 to age 70)?
If yes, max reduction would be what percentage of small pension?
1b. If I took a lumpsum payment in lieu of pension at age 65 (while still on widow's benefit), would there be any impact on my retirement benefits at age 70 (or widow's benefit from age 65-70)? What formula is used to calculate that impact or where in POMS can I find that detail? I understand that impact of pension kicks in only once I start receiving my pension.
2. My divorced widow benefit has an FRA of 66 years and 6 months while my retirement FRA is 66 years and 10 months. What is the age at which the earnings test will no longer apply? - Widow's FRA age or my retirement FRA age? As stated, I do plan to be on Widow's benefits till age 70 after which I plan to convert to my own retirement benefits

Hi,

Yes, it sounds like your surviving divorced spousal benefits will likely be offset by 2/3rds of the gross amount of your pension from the school system due to the Government Pension Offset (GPO) provision (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10007.pdf). No offset will apply until you actually start drawing the pension, though.

GPO would still apply to your survivor benefits and the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) would still apply to your own Social Security retirement benefits if you took a lump sum in lieu of a pension. Social Security would prorate your lump sum into a monthly rate, which they would then use to calculate the offset amount. The lump sum proration method is explained in the following section of Social Security's operations manual (POMS): https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0202608400.

The Social Security earnings test continues to apply until the month you reach your full retirement age (FRA) for Social Security retirement benefits, even if your FRA for surviving divorced spousal is 4 months earlier and you're drawing survivor benefits. So, if you were born in 1959 the earnings test will continue to apply until you reach age 66 & 10 months (https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0302501021).

Our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) is fully programmed to handle cases involving both WEP and GPO, so you may want to strongly consider using the software to help you with your Social Security planning.

Best, Jerry