Social Security Disability Law: News and Facts

Social Security insured status depends completely upon quarters of coverage, a.k.a. work credits, for both fully insured and disability insured status. To be fully insured, you need at least one quarter of coverage for each year after the year you turned 21 and the earliest of the following: the year prior to your turning sixty-two, the year before you die, or the year you became disabled. The minimum amount of quarters of coverage needed to be fully insured is six quarters of coverage and the maximum needed is forty quarters of coverage. Each year, an individual has the potential of earning four quarters of coverage through their work activity. Social Security establishes a monetary amount each year for a quarter of coverage. The amount of quarters of coverage or work credits that an individual earns has a direct affect upon their disability insured status. Whether or not a claimant meets the medical disability listing set out by the Social Security Administration (SSA), to be eligibl...

One of the most common questions I am asked by clients is, what does  "date last insured"  mean? I often have clients who are not eligible for Social Security Disability Benefits even though they have worked for over 20 years. The Client often says to me that he/she paid into the system for so long why can't he/she get disability. The answer is that your Social Security credits do not last forever. "Date last insured," only applies to Social Security Disability Benefits  (SSD), it does not apply to those who are solely applying for Supplemental Security Income  (SSI). Your date last insured is typically 5 years after the date you last worked, or had wages paid into the Social Security system. If you last worked in 2005, it's unlikely that you have a date last insured beyond  December 31, 2010. However, it is always important to check with Social Security to find out the exact date you were last insured. When Social Security references a specific date that yo...