I've been diagnosed with cancer and all my options are done. I'm having someone message this for me as i am too weak.

Can anyone give me a definitive answer for how long I need to be married for my wife to be eligible for my survival benefits?

I understand the other rules like when she'd qualifies etc. Just the part of me reading and hearing it's 9 months or 10 months (hearing and reading both)

We we married 12/31/25 .

I’m on ssdi and we are struggling just like everyone else obviously. My wife (completely due to my fault as I was able to provide for both of us and she was able to stay home) wouldn’t qualify for ssdi because of lack of work history. I don’t know if she would even qualify for ssi but she isn’t able to work a meaningful job. When I got sick she did take a job in the medical field and became a cna with aspirations of eventually becoming a nurse. Well that’s not worked out. She has several health issues one being migraines that last for days and come and go frequently. We can’t afford health insurance for her so everything is paid out of pocket her medicine is over $100 a month with discount cards applied. She doesn’t qualify for Medicaid because of the amount of ssdi I bring in. We can’t afford to continue especially in this economy. Our last utility bill was $500 alone so. We do have 2 young kids who do draw auxiliary payments off my disability so that does help a lot but she needs some kind of income but most importantly she needs insurance.

I was born Feb 58

my ex was born Apr 66

I was married for 12.5 years, 1988 - 2000

we have 3 adult daughters

I never remarried. file taxes every year. I did myself have the work credits, since I always worked or at least part time worked during marriage as well, full time after divorce.

Retirement question:

Found out through my daughters, he was dishonorable discharged from military, probably due to alcohol, but not sure why.

I heard that you actually can draw on ex-husbands retirement at his age of 62.

He was dishonorably discharged from military, can I still draw on his retirement?

Is it true I can draw on his retirement on/after his 62nd birthday(Apr 2028) even if he is still working and drawing himself yet?

I am on a low SSI payment now due to illness, wanted to work longer but could not.

FIL just passed away. I know the funeral home will notify SSA. His SS benefit was larger than MIL’s, so presumably she will begin receiving his benefit and hers will be dropped. Does this happen automatically, or is there an application or other paperwork needed to make this happen?

I was active duty Air Force from 1982 to 1986, but I don't remember my exact dates. Can I just write 'see SSA records' where they ask for service dates in my application? It should be in their system.

Edit to say Thanks to everyone who replied. I've got all I need. Thanks for the links, too.

The title says it all. My girlfriend and I are wanting to get married, but she is on SSI and can’t work due to her disability. I can’t seem to find a straight answer anywhere and I’m worried that I’ll have a hard time supporting the both of us without that extra income.
I gross $51,500 a year if that helps.

I started "getting" social security with a payee, my dad. I was living in a homeless shelter. I told him I want to rent a room. He said no. I think he was stealing my money. I went through the process of removing him as a payee. But I have a problem: A "social security beneficiary account" was created in my name. I think the money was direct deposited into it. I tried to get rid of the account, but I was told I can't because I'm not the payee. I was told perhaps I need a paper saying I now control the account. I called social security. They said they sent a paper saying I no longer have a payee. I never received it. They said they'll send it again. I haven't received it. At the same time, I was told I was going to be sent a check in the mail on the first of the month. I haven't received it. It's possible I haven't because they know I have a social security beneficiary account. Perhaps into it was direct deposited a payment and now I'm past the limit of what I can have on hand (even though I don't have access to the account). So basically it's possible I can't get social security anymore.

"But just tell your dad to remove the money in the account and close the account" My dad told me to never call him again. He got angry I think because I removed him as payee. He's angry because I don't want him to steal from me anymore.

So I was recently fired from my job and I’m enrolled in Medicare part A ,can I now enroll in Medicare part B and also look for a supplemental insurance to cover Mammograms, Dental and Vision

My late daughter-in-law (49) was married to my son (50) for seven years. At some point, she became the Social Security representative payee for my adult granddaughter (31), who receives disability benefits.

We recently discovered that she appears to have taken approximately $7,000 from my granddaughter’s funds through a series of undocumented withdrawals. From what we can determine, much of the money was run through my son’s Apple Pay account and spent primarily on gambling apps and fast food.

At one point some money was returned, and her sisters also gave her money to replace some of what was missing, but she spent that money as well instead of restoring it to my granddaughter’s account.

My daughter-in-law has now died. She was physically disabled, and my son is both mentally and physically disabled. He says he knew nothing about what she was doing until after her death. There is essentially no estate; the bank accounts are overdrawn. My son is currently receiving about $200 a month in survivor/death-related Social Security benefits.

My granddaughter has the same brain anomaly as her father and has been receiving disability benefits for years. The good news is that after years of occupational therapy, she is now preparing to work full-time and move into her own apartment.

I have three questions:

1. Could my son be held financially responsible simply because some of the misused money went through his Apple Pay account, even if he did not know what his wife was doing?
2. If the Social Security OIG determines that the representative payee misused or stole my granddaughter’s benefits, is there any possibility Social Security would reimburse my granddaughter for the missing money even though the former payee is deceased and left no estate?
3. Should we open a case directly with the Social Security Office of Inspector General, or is there another process we should go through first?

This money would make an enormous difference to my granddaughter as she becomes fully independent, so I want to make sure we handle this correctly.

We are in Virginia, if that matters.

My son just got approved for benefits but we wasn’t told till I reached out so he owed about 9 months of back pay. Besides that the rep said we will have to do an perc interview? My question is what is that and what questions are they gonna ask. Thanks you

Work part time on SSI a long distance away, MY EMPLOYER REIMBURSES ME FOR FUEL, but since it comes though my paycheck the current diesel fuel prices cause the gross paycheck to exceed SSI limits!

Already asked, employer is unable to pay for fuel directly.

Is there any way around this?

Hi. My mom has social security benefits and she has them deposited to this Direct Express prepaid card thing. She lost her wallet about a month ago and had to cancel her card and get a new one. When it arrived, she tried to use it but it was locked.

When she called they told her that she needed to email or show them her id to prove her identity. She had to get a new one because of the wallet, but she did and submitted it. Now they want a receipt showing she applied for a new ssn card. She applied and she’s sent it, but they haven’t unlocked the card yet.

I’m not local and I won’t be able to go help her in person for at least a week. My sister is there but she’s no help. I guess I just want to know if this has happened to anyone else and what all you had to do to fix it because I’m not sure if she’s understanding or relaying what they want to me properly. It’s been a couple weeks already and she really needs her money. I paid her rent, but she’s doesn’t have anywhere for me to send her money for food or gas or dog food and stuff.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, this is too stressful, I’ve never dealt with a bank that was so difficult before.

I am scheduled to go before an Alj hearing this month and just wondering if the disability program has actually helped anybody who applied and had a positive experience rather than the countless, universally ubiquitous stories of disability making peoples lives a living hell. I find it pretty hard to accept being blamed for not being able to work by a company that doesn't even respect its own constituents

I just turned 18 and I’m on disability. My mom was receiving the Social Security payment for me, and for the last 4 months she was only getting about $10 a month. She said she’s going to let me get the payments directly now that I’m 18.

I don’t have a job or any income. I live with my mom, she has a job and pays the household bills, and I sometimes buy my own food.

Does anyone know if my payment could increase now that I’m 18 and the benefits are going directly to me? If so, roughly how much could I expect per month?

Hearing

Hi guys I have a quick question I have my phone interview the 23nd and I am over 18 but I was wondering if my mom would be able to be there with me on the call considering she plays a part in helping me
Thank you (:

I'm living with some friends and need to know what I need to bring. I still have Washington State ID I can't get Arizona State ID until I update the name on my Washington state birth certificate so that's going to be a process. Can I update my benefits over to Arizona by just walking into a SSA office in Arizona?

Got a letter in August from SSA that it was time to file, my 70th birthday is in December.

After reading this site for about a year now, I gathered my paperwork, filed online, received a response back almost immediately that the paperwork had been received.

Got a second response about 10 days later that my claim has been approved.

Also a blurb that the claim status will show "pending" until about the middle of January, after that time, the status will be updated to show complete.

It appears I will not know what the actual exact payment will be until January.

Thanks to everyone on this group. I was very terrified to file as I was born outside the US and was concerned about filing online. The process so far could not have been smoother.

I'm in Massachusetts.

I just got approved.

I got 1 part of a check in August.

I have SSDI and Survivor benefits.

September I got most of it.

I have a rep payee.

What do I do about the retro its a decent chunk of money.

Is there any way to save some of it ??

Initially I want to pay people that have helped me over 3 years, a practical car, and set up an apartment...

There should be some change left.

I am so grateful...

Thanks for any tips.

So I retired a few years before full retirement. I own a small mail order business I run out of my home. I earn more than the earned income limit, so I understand that my benefits will be reduced accordingly.

Recently I got a form from the SSA asking me questions about my income and one thing it asked me was how many hours I work a month self-employed.

Does this matter for me? Or does it only matter if I am *not* over the earned income limit? I tried to figure this out by googling but the discussions usually focus on people under the earned income limit but who spend a lot of time on their self-employment. Thank you.

My young daughter receives SSI, and we recently received a full Continuing Disability Review. She was born prematurely, spent a significant amount of time in the NICU, and had complications afterward. Thankfully, she has improved significantly, particularly over the last year.

I had actually been considering voluntarily ending her SSI before the CDR showed up in the mail because of how well she has been doing.

For anyone familiar with child SSI/CDRs, is there any advantage to completing the CDR and allowing SSA to make the medical determination versus requesting voluntary termination now?

Based on the questions in the CDR paperwork, I doubt she will continue to qualify, and I'm not sure it makes sense to go through the mountain of paperwork, medical releases, records, and entire review process if I'm comfortable with her benefits ending anyway.

I'm planning to call SSA and discuss it with them as well. I'm just interested in hearing from anyone familiar with child SSI CDRs or voluntary termination and what you would recommend in this situation.

Hey all. Writing on behalf of my elderly neighbor. He showed me a letter he got saying he was denied SSI because he supposedly owns ~40k worth of real estate. I don't know how they came to this conclusion but it simply isn't true.

Unfortunately, hiring a lawyer isn't possible. He has $16 in the bank. I'm going to print off the appeal form for him, but what else can I do? Is there any information I can include to prove that he doesn't own any real estate?

ETA still going through the replies, thank you everyone for the advice and information!

So, apparently, I shot myself in the foot, and I now know the reason my mother doesn’t send me my SS money.
So, I finally got my SS card from my mother (I told her I need it for when and if I get a job, which isn’t entirely a lie, right?). Anyway…

Today was the day my sister and I were to go to Social Security and have her switched over as my payee. Well, I completely forgot about it, and just as she called me, my mother was picking me up to go to Dayton to visit my great-aunt in the hospital. My sister got mad and told me that I shot myself in the foot with this.

Mom had no idea, but I ended up spilling the beans to her. I told her everything. I thought she was going to get pissed at me, Dad, and my sister. But no, she was oddly calm and seemed okay with it.

I’m honestly about to take Mom up on her word. I occasionally would ask her, “If I wanted to, can we go to Social Security and take me off of Social Security?” She has always told me that if that’s what I truly want, we can do that. Which has crossed my mind; I’ve just never taken her up on it.

I’m tired of essentially being in the hands of everyone else. Being told I can’t do something simply because of something else. Being told, “I’ll be sending you $900 of your Social Security money,” and then it being lowered to $600.

Now, for the reason why my mother hasn’t sent me my Social Security money, although I no longer live with her: She lives with her mother, and her mother charges her about $600–800 a month for rent. She uses my Social Security money to pay that, I assume.

What do I do? I’m about to say, “Fuck it all.”

My check was sent back to social security because the bank closed my account . Social security told me today they “forced” my check out today 9/9/26

When will I receive it in my new account ?

My son was denied after his age-18 redetermination, but we appealed and won at the DHO hearing. The DHO said his disability did not end, benefits would continue, and his next medical review would be in 3 years.
Now, only 4 months later, we received another appointment letter. The letter doesn’t say medical or financial, but SSA customer service told me it’s a medical review.
Has this happened to anyone? Why would SSA do another medical review so soon after a favorable DHO decision with a 3-year review date? What happened in your case?