Will My Surviving Spouse Receive My Ssdi Benefits
Many people receive monthly disability benefits, Social Security Disability Insurance benefits for example. Sometimes awards are based on the applicants terminal illness. Since disability benefits offer much-needed support to the families of disabled people, its natural to wonder whether your surviving spouse will receive your SSDI benefits after you are gone.
If An Insured Worker Becomes Disabled Or Dies While Collecting Social Security Disability Benefits A Spouse Or Divorced Spouse Can Receive Benefits If The Spouse Cares For At Least One Child Of The Disabled Worker Who Is Under Age 16 Or Over 16 And Disabled
If the disabled child is over age 22, they must have become disabled before age 22. These benefits are called mothers or fathers benefits. If the spouse continues to care for a disabled child after age 16, the spouse may still receive benefits, but the spouse must explain to Social Security that they have parental responsibility for the child to continue benefits. The ten-year marriage requirement does not apply to divorced spouses for mothers or fathers benefits.
We Can Represent You In Front Of An Administrative Law Judge
Once we secure a hearing with an Administrative Law Judge , we will represent your interests and help you secure benefits. Meetings with ALJs can be done by phone, video conference, or in person.
We represent clients in Pittsburgh and surrounding areas. Our legal team at the Pittsburgh office, located at 800 Waterfront Drive, is ready to take on your case.
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How Do Benefits Work And How Can I Qualify
While you work, you pay Social Security taxes. This tax money goes into a trust fund that pays benefits to:
- Those who are currently retired
- To people with disabilities
- To the surviving spouses and children of workers who have died
Each year you work, youll get credits to help you become eligible for benefits when its time for you to retire. Find all the benefits Social Security Administration offers.
There are four main types of benefits that the SSA offers:
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Learn about earning limits if you plan to work while receiving Social Security benefits
Amount Of Spousal Disability Benefits
If the disabled worker is still living, a spouse generally receives 50% of the disabled worker’s primary insurance amount , although if the disabled worker’s children are collecting benefits at the same time, the spouse’s benefit can be reduced. The total of the spouse’s benefit and the children’s benefit cannot be greater than the maximum family benefit, which is generally 150% of the disabled worker’s monthly SSDI benefit.
The amount a surviving spouse will receive depends on how old the spouse is and whether the spouse is taking care of the deceased worker’s children. The amount varies between 75% and 100% of the deceased worker’s monthly amount.
In addition, if a disabled worker dies while receiving Social Security benefits, the surviving spouse will receive a death benefit worth several hundred dollars if the surviving spouse was living in the same household.
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Which Programs Provide Benefits To Surviving Spouses
The Social Security Administration understands that many families depend on the income from Social Security Disability Insurance and other programs to pay their bills and make ends meet. When a qualifying family member passes away, the rest of the family loses access to these benefits, and it causes immense financial stress.
For this reason, they offer special benefits to these families. Known as survivors benefits, they base these monthly payments on the earnings and work history of the deceased spouse. These benefits provide much-needed income for many families.
Depending on your situation, survivors benefits will provide:
- Reduced benefits beginning when you reach age 60
- Full benefits once your reach full retirement age
- Benefits if you are disabled, over age 50, and your disability began within seven years of your spouses death or within seven years receiving survivors benefits
- Benefits if you are raising a child of the deceased under the age of 16
- Benefits if you are caring for a disabled child of the deceased.
Even if you decide to remarry, you sometimes may still qualify for survivors benefits based on your deceased spouses work record. This could be true if you are over age 60 or over age 50 and disabled when you remarry.
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The Big Picture: Getting Educated On Your Options With Disability Benefits
In many cases, when a recipient of disability benefits dies, there is no need for the SSA to continue issuing payments. There are some cases, though, that require such action. When a disability recipient leaves behind a spouse, that individual may qualify for a one-time death benefit. In addition, a spouse and/or qualifying dependants may qualify for ongoing payments, equaling up to 80 percent of what the recipient typically received.
Employment is a factor. If you are the surviving spouse of a disability benefits recipient, the amount of assistance you receive on a monthly basis may be reduced from what your spouse received when he or she was alive.
While the SSA can be helpful in sharing what benefits you may qualify for after a relatives death, SSA representatives may not have the time to spend with you to address all your concerns. A Fort Lauderdale Social Security disability representative can give you the attention you need to figure out what you must do next in order to put your mind at ease.
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Do We Pay Death Benefits
A one-time lump-sum death payment of $255 can be paid to the surviving spouse if they were living with the deceased. If living apart, they were receiving certain Social Security benefits on the deceaseds record.
If there is no surviving spouse, the payment is made to a child who is eligible for benefits on the deceaseds record in the month of death.
When The Social Security Act Was First Created In 1935 Benefits Were Approved Only For Insured Workers With Disabilities
When it became obvious that a disabled worker who served as the main provider for a family needed more money to support a spouse and children than a single insured worker, auxiliary or secondary benefits were instituted. First, dependent wives and children were added as beneficiaries and later dependent parents and male spouses. In 1975, the United States Supreme Court held in Weinberger v. Wiesenfeld that a gender-based distinction in the Social Security Act that allowed widows but not widowers to collect special benefits while caring for children was a violation of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. It wasnt until 1983 that gender-based distinctions in Social Security programs were eliminated. Today, men and women share the breadwinner role and responsibilities of raising children equally and may be eligible for Social Security auxiliary benefits.
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Minor Or Child With A Disability
If you are the unmarried child under age 18 of a worker who dies, you can be eligible to receive Social Security survivors benefits. You can also be eligible, if you are up to age 19 and attending elementary or secondary school full time.
Besides the worker’s natural children, their stepchildren, grandchildren, step grandchildren, or adopted children may receive benefits under certain circumstances.
What We Will Ask You
Depending on the information you provide, we may need to ask other questions.
Note
You also should bring along your checkbook or other papers that show your account number at a bank, credit union or other financial institution so you can sign up for Direct Deposit, and avoid worries about lost or stolen checks and mail delays.
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Who Is Entitled To Survivors Benefits From Social Security
How Social Security Can Help You When a Family Member Dies SSA.gov/benefits/survivors
Social Security is a key source of financial security to widowed spouses. About 7.8 million individuals aged 60 and older receive Social Security benefits based, at least in part, on a deceased spouses work record. These surviving spouse beneficiaries are overwhelmingly women.
These beneficiaries include 3.6 million people who are eligible only as widowed spouses. Another 4.2 million who are entitled to benefits based on their own work records but whose deceased spouses benefit amounts were higher than their own, will receive higher benefits as individuals .
Surviving Spouses Of Ssdi Recipients
If your spouse who was receiving SSDI benefits dies, you may be eligible to receive widow’s or widower’s benefits, if your spouse was “currently insured” before becoming disabled.
You can be eligible for benefits as a widow in several different ways. Depending on your category of eligibility, you’ll be eligible to collect a certain percentage of your deceased spouse’s SSDI benefit.
Here are the categories along with the percentage of your deceased spouse’s SSDI benefit you can receive.
- You care for a child under the age of 16 years old who receives survivors SSDI benefits from your deceased spouse.
- You will receive 75% of your deceased spouse’s SSDI benefit.
Here are some interesting twists on the surviving spouse benefit.
Remarriage. If you remarry before the age of 60 years old, you can’t receive benefits as a surviving spouse. If you get remarried after you reach the age of 60 years old, or 50 years old if you are disabled, your SSDI benefits will not be affected.
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Survivors Benefits For Divorced Spouses
If your former spouse dies and was insured under SSDI, you may be eligible for the same survivors benefits as if you had stayed married. The requirements for getting benefits as a divorced spouse are:
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You were married to your former spouse for at least ten years.
- You have not remarried , and
- You cannot get an equal or higher benefit amount on your own or someone else’s record.
Grandchildren Of Deceased Ssdi Recipients
As a grandchild , you may be eligible to receive survivors benefits on the record of a deceased grandparent if the following requirements are met:
- Your biological parents are deceased or disabled and are not making regular contributions to support you.
- You began living with your grandparent before the age of 18 years old and your grandparent provided at least half of your support for at least 12 months before dying.
- For babies under 12 months old, the infant has lived with the grandparent for substantially all of the infant’s, and the grandparent provided at least half of the infant’s support.
Qualified grandchildren will receive 75% of their grandparent’s SSDI benefit, the same as children. The payments will continue until the grandchild’s 18th birthday payments will actually stop the month before the grandchild turns 18 years old.
If the grandchild is adopted by the grandparents, the above requirements for grandchildren need not be met. The adopted grandchild will instead need to meet the requirements laid out in the “Children” section.
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Eligibility For Ssdi Or Widows Benefits
To qualify for SSDI, you must meet these requirements:
- Have a severe illness or injury that causes you to be unable to work enough to support yourself,
- Not earn more money than the earnings cap for SSDI,
- Your doctor expects your impairment to last at least a year or to be terminal,
- You have worked long enough at jobs that paid into the Social Security system through Social Security taxes that your employer took out of your paycheck.
To qualify for survivors/widows benefits, you must have been married to someone who paid into the Social Security retirement program through his employment. Some people can qualify for widows benefits after divorcing the person who later died.
When you reach your full retirement age, your disability benefit will automatically convert to what the SSA will call your retirement benefit. A Michigan SSDI attorney can evaluate your situation and advocate for you. Contact us today.
What Is A Social Security Card
Your Social Security card is an important piece of identification. You’ll need one to get a job, collect Social Security, or receive other government benefits.
When you apply for a Social Security number , the Social Security Administration will assign you a nine-digit number. This is the same number that is printed on the Social Security card that SSA will issue you. If you change your name, you will need to get a corrected card.
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May I Receive The Survivor Annuity And Social Security Benefits
You may receive a CSRS survivor annuity and social security payments. You may receive a FERS survivor annuity and social security payments. However, if you are the survivor of a FERS retiree, you cannot receive the FERS survivor supplement if you are eligible for social security mother, father or disability benefits based on the deceased annuitants account. Please contact the local office of the Social Security Administration for information about social security benefits.
If you receive social security benefits based on your own employment, there may be a reduction in the social security benefit you receive based on your deceased spouse’s service. Contact the Social Security Administration for more information about the Government Pension Offset at .
See the information below about benefits which may be payable to the surviving spouse of a deceased annuitant who was covered by the Civil Service Retirement System Offset program. Under these circumstances, a survivor may be eligible for both a CSRS annuity and social security benefits.
Amount Of Survivors Benefits
The amount of your monthly Social Security survivors benefit check will depend on your deceased spouse’s earnings record. You’ll receive a percentage of the monthly amount your deceased spouse received or was eligible to receive in SSDI benefits at the time of death. Here are the general rules:
- A surviving spouse who’s reached full retirement age will receive 100% of their deceased spouse’s monthly benefit.
- A surviving spouse between age 60 and full retirement age will receive 71-99% percent of their deceased spouse’s monthly amount.
- A surviving spouse receiving a mother’s or father’s benefit will get 75% percent of their deceased spouse’s monthly benefit amount.
However, if your deceased spouse’s children are collecting SSDI benefits at the same time, your survivors benefit might be reduced. The total of your and the children’s benefits can’t be more than the maximum family benefitgenerally 150% to 180% of your deceased spouse’s monthly SSDI benefit.Note that the benefits paid to a divorced spouse based on being over 60 or disabled aren’t counted toward the maximum family benefit and won’t affect a current spouse’s or child’s benefits. But benefits paid to a divorced spouse collecting a mother’s or father’s benefit are counted toward the maximum family benefit.
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With a survivor benefit, an individual can elect to receive benefits as early as age 60 . A survivor benefit is 100% of the deceased spouses Primary Insurance Amount, which is based on contributions the deceased paid into the Social Security system during his or her lifetime. This page lists the types of survivors benefits available if you are the survivor. … How Your Spouse Earns Social Security Survivors Benefits. The survivingspouse can receive 100% of the benefits at full retirement age. If the survivingspouse is between age 60 and their full retirement age, they can receive reduced benefitsusually. 1. You can get up to 50% of your spouses full benefit. The maximum spousal benefit is 50% of your spouses primary insurance amount. Thats.
Benefits For Your Children
When you qualify for Social Security disability benefits, your children may also qualify to receive benefits on your record. Your eligible child can be your biological child, adopted child, or stepchild. A dependent grandchild may also qualify.
To receive benefits, the child must:
- Be under age 18 or
- Be 18-19 years old and a full-time student or
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We Can Help If The Ssa Denied Your Appeal
A lawyer from our firm can continue to the reconsideration stage if the SSA denied your appeal for benefits. Here, a new SSA representative will handle your case and determine whether you are eligible for survivors benefits. If the case fails in the reconsideration stage, we can proceed to the next stage.
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