SS Survivor Benefits for a Thai Spouse of an American

[mrwebb8825]

The title is pretty straight forward. I checked a few years ago and was told my wife can not receive my SS payments after I die unless she has/had lived in the states continuously for 3 years. Other than that she would get a 1 time death benefit payment of about $300. Her mother recently met a thai woman who was married to an American and claims he did some kind of paperwork and she now gets his retirement income of around 80,000 baht a month.

I'm thinking this must be a pension from a private firm and not the government SS program.

Anyone know if things have changed or I asked the wrong questions to the SS office in Manila?

[cmarshall]

You really don't know how to use Google? 

 

To qualify for for either SS spousal or widow's benefits, she has to have lived with you in the States while married for at least five years, not necessarily continuously.  For the spousal benefit she must have reached Full Retirement Age herself, while for the survivor's benefit she must be at least 60 years old.

[lopburi3]

It could be a government annuity from OPM (government employee retirement) - would not have to be private.  80k per month could fit that.

[mrwebb8825]

1 hour ago, cmarshall said:

You really don't know how to use Google? 

 

To qualify for for either SS spousal or widow's benefits, she has to have lived with you in the States while married for at least five years, not necessarily continuously.  For the spousal benefit she must have reached Full Retirement Age herself, while for the survivor's benefit she must be at least 60 years old.

I'm not "Google challenged" but sometimes there are things that can be done that are NOT listed in the "preferred top 100 chosen answers to your query" and so I didn't think it would offend greatly to ask.

55 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

It could be a government annuity from OPM (government employee retirement) - would not have to be private.  80k per month could fit that.

Yes, I hadn't thought of that. It could explain the confusion when translated to Thai. Thank you