Social security disability and marriage?

My Back Hurts

If the person is collecting "SSDI" (and not SSI) the wages earned by the spouse have no bearing on the amount the disabled person is collecting.
I'm legally married, my spouse could be a millionaire (in my dreams anyway ) and I'd still be entitled to my full SSDI benefit.

I imagine your friend was collecting SSI which is asset based, and the wages of her spouse more than likely created a reduction in her benefits.

SSDI = social security disability insurance

SSI = supplemental security income

monkey5

I am wondering if you qualified under both SSI and SSDI do you get both or the larger amount? Thanks
Monkey

always smiling

No, you do not lose your benefits if it is SSDI. I'm on disability and my husband works full time making a pretty good buck.

shawley

If your spouse works and makes to much ( whatever that is) you won't be eligable for SSI but can be for SSD . I was nto eligable for SSI because my wife makes to much ? Heck and were broke all the time.

You need to file for SSD right away , don't wait its money out of your pocket , but remember you have to have earned enough credits for SSD

shawley

I wonder how your able to get SSI when your husband works ? He must not be making that much right ? I was turned down , maybe my w/c plus my wifes 2 jobs is to much money ? I know every penny helps and wish I could get SSI.

always smiling

Shawley, I do not get SSI, I get social security disabiltiy.

shawley

Sorry always smiling , I read your post wrong .

jrinaman

dont think dating is an issue. when you are married, you become a family. ssi is to help the less fortonate, those who became disabled and didnt have enough paid in, and dont have any resources to survive. when you get married, your resources are combined. if the spouse is equally less fortionate, you still get ssi. think of it like this; your sister is unable to work and you are able to help. you take your money and pay her rent. you miss the money but your sister needs your help so you pay anyway. she gets married to a guy making 100,000.00 a year. he moves into her apartment and you continue to pay her rent. he is providing everything else so that is her contribution, why would you punish her by not continuing to pay her rent? i beleive everyone her would stop helping her. what if her husband only made 50,000.00? or 20,000.00? 12,000.00? ssi has to have guidelines, and they are quite low. i am not saying its fair, but the ones with nothing get the help, the ones with almost nothing get screwed, the ones that have something dont "need" it but could live better with it. you think ssi is tough? try welfare! they cant find enough ways to discourage you from bettering yourself. when i quit working, i applied for welfare for the medical. my bussiness was still generating 400.00 a month evan though i couldnt work. i was eligable for NOTHING! i dissolved the bussiness that very day, called her back in morning and was given 200.00 cash, 200.00 food stamps and insurance worth more than both plus i was told i could get low income housing help with utility bills, and a bunch of other little things. a working man would need 1000.00-1500.00 take home pay just to break evan. their cut off for earnings was 200.00/month. talk about incentive to NOT work. thats not for the disabled, or less fortonate, thats for able bodies that dont want to work. i think they ,both welfare and ssi, should have a gradual decrease rather than, 1 dollar to much and you lose 674 dollars. why not lose 50.00 for every 100.00 over? that would resolve "some" of the issues. i totally disagree with uncle sams veiw on this, i understand his frustration, anything with gov. is frustrating but you can get married, if she is poor, you keep benifets, you can date, men, women, both, doesnt matter to ssi. no federal law not to date! as much as i hate to defend ssi, you need to understand what ssi is, and be glad usa has it. just remember you only have two choices on marraige, either pick a millionaire, or dirt poor, nothing in between.

mscat40

I could not agree more with the previous post. Jr. Is completely right. Yes social security is difficult to get onto, but many people do , and are married, my brother, is is SSI , married with children. Yes, they have to live on a tight income, but they make it. The live in a rented 3 bedroom house, have 2 cars that work. and are doing ok. Even if they have to scrape by, they always pay their water bill, garbage bills, and so forth. They do recieve food stamps bcaause one of the kids are under age 18, so my sister in law gets a little bit of help too.
They all have their medical insurance too, low cost, medi'cal from the welfare department. My brother only recieves his monthy SSI check so so does not qualify for AID, here in Ca.
i have a son have a son who has autism , low IQ scores. He will be 18 in August, then I have to reapply for him to have his own SSI. Right now he get s a portion off of my record because i have SSDI.
We do live in HUD housing that is income based , which helps us pay rent. Their are a lt of things that a person can do when on disability, or qualify for.

mscat40

Yep, SSDI is not income based. Even better program for those who have worked enough credits to qualify. SSDi is a lot diferent then SSI , which has very strict income guidelines.

SpineAZ

The reason SSDI is not affected by income of spouse or other household members is the person receiving SSDI paid into SSDI for years via payroll deductions. He/she earned enough SS credits to be eligible for SSDI and applied within required time line after stopping work. It's more like typical disability "insurance". If someone stops working and 10 years later becomes disabled their SSDI credits will have expired and they will not be eligible. This again is similar to insurance, if you aren't paying in recently and aren't working then you haven't had a financial loss by becoming unable to work...which you weren't doing anyway.

However SSI is more welfare based. Although the person may have worked a long time ago or recently at minimal wages, he/she does not have enough credits to get SSDI. So SSI is based on disability and financial need.

SSDI credits: http://ssa.gov/pubs/10072.html
SSI income limits: http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/11000.html

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