How to help my widowed mother collect German pension?

Post date: 2020-10-21 13:11:43

My elderly mother just shared with me that she is due a pension from Germany for the years my late father worked there as a professor. She lives in the US. She has asked me to help her collect it and am at a loss as to how to even begin.

Both my mother and I are in the US. My mother is 85. I have increasingly been helping her with house chores and financial issues. Today she told me for the first time that she believes she is due a pension from when my father worked as a professor in Germany in the 80's. My father died 7 years ago.

Apparently she made attempts to collect her widow's pension but gave up after some months when the German authorities repeatedly asked her for more information, tax statements, her retirement statements, etc. I asked her why she'd never told me this before and she said she was embarassed that she had given up on it and let it go this long. She absolutely could use the money, which she thinks should be about $500 per month.

My German is very rusty, Google translate is a little wonky, and I'm having trouble understanding the things I've found online with any exactitude. I'm not even sure where to start in helping her collect. Is there some office I should call where they would speak English? Do I need a German lawyer? Should I just refile the form SSA-2490, which I assume she filed 7 years ago? I haven't even been able to tell whether she would be due the moneys she should have received these 7 years retroactively, if we can get her paid at all.

My father, before he died, had apparently been collecting his pension from Germany with no problem. I'm not sure whether any papers exist that prove that.

I feel overwhelmed by this task and could use steering in the right direction. Thanks!

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