Social Security Fairness Act and Divorce Benefits in Florida

What Changed With the Social Security Fairness Act

The Social Security Fairness Act (H.R. 82), signed into law on January 5, 2025, repealed two provisions that had reduced or eliminated Social Security benefits for millions of people who also received a government pension: the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO).

For divorced Floridians — especially those who were married to state or county employees in the Florida Retirement System, teachers in the FRS Pension Plan, or federal employees — this repeal can mean the difference between receiving full divorced-spouse Social Security benefits and receiving nothing at all.

The WEP and GPO Are Fully Repealed

The WEP reduced Social Security retirement benefits for people who earned a pension from work not covered by Social Security. The GPO reduced (and often eliminated) Social Security spousal and survivor benefits for people who received a government pension from non-Social Security-covered employment.

Both provisions were repealed for benefits payable from January 2024 onward. The SSA paid retroactive adjustments starting February 2025, and the implementation is complete. No government pension of any kind reduces or eliminates a Social Security benefit under these former provisions anymore.

What This Means for Divorced Spouses in Florida

If you are divorced and were previously denied or reduced Social Security divorced-spouse benefits because of the GPO, you may now be entitled to full benefits. The same applies to divorced-spouse survivor benefits.

Divorced-spouse retirement benefits: You can claim up to 50% of your ex-spouse's full retirement benefit if your marriage lasted at least 10 years, you are at least 62, you are currently unmarried, your own Social Security benefit is less than the divorced-spouse benefit, and your ex-spouse is at least 62. If your ex-spouse has not claimed benefits, the divorce generally must have been final for at least two years. The GPO previously offset this benefit dollar-for-dollar by two-thirds of your government pension — often reducing it to zero. That offset is gone.

Divorced-spouse survivor benefits: If your ex-spouse has died, you can claim up to 100% of their benefit (if you are at least 60, or at least 50 if disabled) as long as you were married for at least 10 years and are currently unmarried (or remarried after age 60). The GPO previously reduced this benefit the same way. That reduction no longer applies.

Who Needs to Take Action

If your benefits were previously reduced by WEP or GPO: The SSA has already recalculated affected benefits and issued retroactive payments back to January 2024. Check your my Social Security account online to verify the adjustment. If it has not been applied, contact your local SSA office.

If you never applied because the GPO would have eliminated your benefit: You must file a new claim. The SSA does not automatically start benefits for people who never applied. Visit your local SSA office or call the national line to file for divorced-spouse benefits.

If you were told you were ineligible: Many people were advised — correctly at the time — that the GPO would zero out their divorced-spouse benefit, so they never filed. That advice is now outdated. File a new application.

FRS Members: A Specific Scenario

Florida Retirement System employees (teachers, law enforcement, firefighters, county workers) who participated in the FRS Pension Plan earned a pension from employment not covered by Social Security. Under the old rules, an FRS retiree who was also eligible for divorced-spouse Social Security benefits from a former spouse in the private sector would have had those benefits reduced or eliminated by the GPO.

With the repeal, that FRS retiree can now receive the divorced-spouse Social Security benefit without a WEP or GPO offset. State-plan provisions may still affect the FRS pension itself. If this describes your situation and you have not filed for Social Security benefits, contact the SSA.

What Has Not Changed

The 10-year marriage requirement for divorced-spouse benefits is unchanged. The age requirements are unchanged. The requirement that you be currently unmarried (for retirement benefits) is unchanged. Social Security benefits still cannot be divided as marital property in a Florida divorce — they remain a federal entitlement based on individual work history and marital duration.

State pension plan offsets — like the FRS coordinated-member reduction — are separate provisions written into the plan rules, not federal law. Those still exist and are unrelated to the WEP/GPO repeal.

The Florida After-Divorce Checklist includes a Social Security benefits section that walks through the eligibility rules, the post-repeal claiming process, and the forms you need for both divorced-spouse retirement and survivor benefits.

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