If you receive disability benefits through the Social Security Administration, you also may be eligible for survivor benefits on the death of a spouse or other members of your family. It’s not an easy process, and you must meet specific requirements to receive survivor benefits while on disability.
This blog explains the requirements for disability benefit programs and those for survivor benefits eligibility. You’ll learn how you can qualify for disability and survivor benefits eligibility. If you have questions or need assistance from an outstanding Northern California disability lawyer, contact Sackett Law.
How Does The Social Security Disability Program Work?
The Social Security Disability Insurance program provides disability benefits to people who worked at jobs or were self-employed and paid Social Security taxes on their income. You must have worked for a long enough and recent enough duration to be eligible to participate in the SSDI program.
Disability benefits are for those individuals who have not reached retirement age when a disabling medical condition expected to last for at least 12 months or expected to result in death prevents them from working. You cannot receive benefits for partial or temporary disabilities.
It’s important to know that SSDI benefits do not continue after you reach the age when you are eligible to receive full Social Security retirement benefits. Upon reaching the age of full retirement, which for anyone born after 1960 is 67, SSDI automatically converts to retirement benefits.
Who Is Eligible For Survivor Benefits?
Social Security is more than just retirement and disability benefits. When workers and their employers pay Social Security taxes on wages, the insured workers are eligible for retirement and disability benefits. If they die, their surviving family members are eligible for survivor.
To qualify for survivor benefits upon the death of a loved one, you must be related to them in one of the following ways:
- Spouse
- Ex-spouse
- Child
- Dependent parent
You may claim survivor benefits as a spouse or ex-spouse if you meet all of the following requirements:
- You must be at least 60, but you can qualify for benefits at ages 50 to 59 if you are disabled.
- You and the deceased must have been married for at least nine months. The marriage must have lasted for at least 10 years if you are an ex-spouse.
- You cannot remarry before you are 60 years old or 50 years old if you have a disability.
If you are caring for a child of your deceased spouse or ex-spouse, you may be able to qualify for survivor benefits regardless of your age or the duration of the marriage. A Sackett Law disability lawyer can review your situation and advise you about eligibility.
Children may be eligible for survivor benefits upon the death of a parent insured through the Social Security system. A child must be younger than 18 unless they are a full-time elementary or secondary school student.
A disabled child may be eligible for benefits provided the disability developed before the child was age 22. It’s worth noting that stepchildren, adopted children, grandchildren, and step-grandchildren can also qualify for survivor benefits.
The final category of family members eligible for survivor benefits is dependent parents. If you are 62 or older, you may be eligible for benefits through the account of a deceased child you depended on for financial support.
Can You Collect Survivor Benefits And Disability?
You generally cannot collect benefits on your own Social Security account while also receiving survivor benefits on the account of a deceased family member. However, if you are disabled and reach the age of full retirement eligibility when SSDI payments convert to retirement benefits, you can continue receiving benefits under your account or accept the survivor benefits, whichever gives you the most in monthly benefits.
The deciding factor will be the amount of the monthly benefit. You can choose the benefit that provides you with the most money each month.
Sometimes, a surviving spouse who is disabled may receive SSDI based on their work record that is less than the benefits they would get as survivor benefits. If that happens, they continue receiving their monthly SSDI payment and payment from survivor benefits to make up the difference between the two benefits amounts. However, when the surviving spouse is eligible for full retirement benefits instead of SSDI, the disability and survivor benefits combination ends, and they receive the greater of their retirement or the survivor benefit.
Contact A Northern California Social Security Disability Lawyer
If you have questions about survivor benefits while on disability or need a skilled disability lawyer to appeal a claim denial, contact Sackett Law. Find out for yourself why people throughout Northern California and around the country have placed their trust in Sackett Law for more than four decades.
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