Dear Liz: My husband worked for the postal service for over 30 years and retired with a pension. He does not have enough years working in the private sector to qualify for Social Security. Since we now have the Social Security Fairness Act, is he eligible to receive a percentage of my Social Security? I know spouses who never worked and never contributed are able to receive Social Security payments based on their spouse’s earnings.
Answer: If you’ve already started Social Security and he’s at least 62, he should now be able to claim a spousal benefit based on your work record.
The Social Security Fairness Act ended the windfall elimination provision and the government pension offset. These two provisions had reduced or eliminated benefits for over 3 million people who received pensions from jobs that didn’t pay into Social Security. Those affected will see their benefits increase or receive benefits for the first time, plus they’ll receive a one-time retroactive payment reflecting the increase dating back to January 2024.
Social Security started adjusting benefits and making retroactive payments at the end of February. The agency says most affected people will see their adjusted payments starting in April, since benefits are paid one month behind.
If your husband never applied for spousal benefits, he can do so now. If he applied in the past and was denied, he could get his first payment next month as long as the agency has his current bank deposit information on file.
My husband and I are in this exact situation. He had his appointment to apply for spousal benefits last week. I was expecting that he would receive benefits retroactive to January 2024, but the benefits representative said they could only go back 6 months from the date of application. Has anyone else encountered this? What is the correct information regarding retroactive eligibility?
Unfortunately, you wouldn’t be the first to get bad information from Social Security. Normally, back benefits are limited to six months. But the new law and the Social Security Administration have been clear that back benefits will be paid to January 2024. Here’s the relevant link, under the heading “UPDATE! When will a person see their Social Security benefit increase because of the Social Security Fairness Act?”
My husband is 78 and has been collecting a State pension for awhile. He worked for the State for 33 years and then sporadically for the City of Easthampton for about 15 years. Neither took out for SS. Now that the WEP & GPO were repealed I read that he no longer needs 40 quarters for SS but he does need 35+ years of actual work to receive SS. Is this true? Can he begin receiving SS?
The rules for qualifying for Social Security haven’t changed. He’ll still need 40 quarterly credits, or 10 years of employment in jobs that paid into Social Security, to qualify for a benefit based on his own earnings history. The benefit (his monthly payment) will be calculated using his 35 highest-earning years in jobs that paid into Social Security. Since his government jobs didn’t pay into Social Security, he’ll have zeros for many of those years, but he’ll still have a payment as long as he meets the 40 quarterly credit requirement. Hope that helps.