How Will Marriage Affect My Disability Benefits?

Being married can have financial benefits when it comes to Social Security. There are many factors to think about before claiming Social Security benefits. Married people can use different strategies to increase their benefits by timing their claims with each other. Your marital status is important to the SSA because you may be entitled to higher payments based on your spouse’s occupation and income. Understanding the full range of benefits you’re eligible to receive will enable you to get the most from your monthly payments.

Getting married may affect your disability benefits in a variety of ways. This is largely dependent on what type of benefits you receive—Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI).

If you receive SSI benefits, you likely already know that eligibility is determined based on your income and financial resources. Once you get married, the SSA will “deem” a portion of your spouse’s income to your record. Essentially, this means that they will consider your future husband or wife’s income to be your income as well. This may significantly reduce your monthly payment or even cause the SSA to terminate your benefits altogether.

If the person you're marrying makes a good amount of income, it's quite possible that when your future spouse's deemed income is added to yours, this will put you over the SSI eligibility limit – keeping in mind that the program is designed to support the disabled individuals who have the most critical need. So getting married could reduce the amount of your SSI benefit or cause the payments to stop altogether

How much of your spouse’s income will be deemed to you? The SSA determines this using a complex formula. 

For the SSA, it’s not only those who are legally married who are considered ‘spouses.’ The agency may also consider your boyfriend or girlfriend a ‘spouse’ if you live together and treat each other as husband and wife. Deeming of income may also apply in this situation.

If you need helping applying for Social Security Disability or SSI, please contact me at joshben99@gmail.com. I have over 20 years experience with Social Security Disability cases.

Location: Michigan, USA

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