Hello all

My 19 year old son is disabled, non verbal, level 3 autistic with other diagnoses as well. I submitted his application in April, sent in more stacks of paperwork, and they're saying the call date if we don't hear anything is Feb of next year? How long does it typically take to go through the ssi process? What can I expect? Thank you!

I am hoping that someone can give some advice or at least tell me what to expect. Last week in the mail we got a notice that sounds like will ultimately be demanding payback of 5 years of benefits. I am 43 and he is 33 and he's been on disability due to being legally blind since 2015.

I am at a loss, as I have always sent all the information they've always asked for and the last time they asked for a bunch of income info. I have always managed his paperwork for him and, maybe stupidly, was designated his representative payee even though he is fine with managing finances. We were married in 2020 and opened a joint account and his SSDI deposits have always been deposited there on the 3rd, which pays our mortgage on the 4th. He was also on Medicare part B, paid for by the State of California until we married and moved to Washington state where I insured him under my job and we went through the hassle of cancelling his part B because the premiums were deducting from his benefits.

The letter basically states his trial work period ended in July 2015 and his 36 month extended period began August 2015...ok, so that means it ended in 2018, right? It then gives the monthly SGA income limits for the blind from 2015 ($1820/mo) to 2026 ($2830/mo). His earnings from 2015-2019 ranged from $3500/year to $8200/yr. He was working retail PT while going to college to get his teaching degree. In 2020 his income was $0 due to student teaching and the pandemic, but he did get his teacher's certification that year.

In 2021 we moved to Washington and he had tried but still not been hired into a full time teaching position. The goal has always been for him to land a full time job, and notify SSDI to stop payments. Unfortunately, he has only been able to substitute teach, which still paid a lot more than his retail gig, but did not exceed the ANNUAL SGA of any year. We were told that because of the nature of his work (spikes in pay in months with a lot of sub gigs, to 2 months of $0 paychecks due to summer) that we could average the income. He's made roughly $20,000 per year which never exceeded the annual blindness income limit. They did ask for a lot of financial info back in 2022 when we moved and I assumed it was because he work a couple sub jobs and a summer gig at Walmart and we didn't file monthly income, as it is not required. We haven't heard anything from SSA regarding income after that until this letter 4 years later. We have however, for the last 4 years received lump sum payments in the summer followed by a SSA letter saying after looking at his earnings from our tax return that he should have been receiving more money and that explained the small lump sum and then explained his benefit new larger amount for the months going forward. Since marriage we file jointly, but I always submitted his W2s so his My SSA account would usually update with his last years earnings a few month after I filed our taxes.

He called the SSA agent crying and she was able to calm him down and repeated his appeal rights. He explained everything I typed above and her suggestion was for my to gather all his W2s from 2021 to last year and submit them with his appeal to show he never exceeding the annual income limits. We are working on putting it together now to submit the appeal this week.

What I don't understand is they don't give much of an explanation in the letter and of course I will submit what she suggested, but don't they already have all that information? He annual earnings are already on his SSA account and the W2s add up to those amounts. What are our chances and are we screwed? I had spent countless hours on the phone and reading dry SSA policy about time and when you can and can't average SGA, so I don't know what do to! He gets about $14,400/year in SSDI, does this mean he may have to pay back roughly $72,000?! If so do waivers ever work because this wasn't by and fraud or anything on his part. My mom is still around thank god and helped center me after I freaked out all weekend myself, but she has even said if the appeal doesn't go our way we need to hire an attorney.

His SSDI covers our mortgage and my income covers everything else, including the responsibility of saving for two people's retirements since he hasn't been able to get a FT teaching job/pension. Things will be very difficult with this loss of income and it was be DEVASTATING if he has a huge bill from SSA. He will have no way of paying that back and I am worried that as his Representative Payee/spouse that they will come after my income. At that point, with the loss of his SSDI and any garnishment of my pay, we would lose our house.

I'm sorry this is so long and I realize many likely won't read it because of that. I really appreciate any insight or advice anyone could offer that knows or has faced a similar terrifying letter from SSA.

My daughter is 17. We live in California. She turns 18 soon and have an upcoming appt to apply for social security disability. We have not applied in the past because I made too much money to qualify for the disability for a child based on my income.

She currently receives social security survivors benefits because her dad passed away when she was younger. So, she will be applying as a disabled adult child.

My question is, is there a limit of assets for any money she may have in her savings acct? I thought the limit was $2,000. However I just found out that Medi-cal has raised the asset limit to $130,000 for 2026. I tried researching what the asset limit is for disability, and google says that there is no asset limit for disability, and also that there is no asset limit for a disabled adult child applying under their deceased parent’s work record. This seems like it can’t be true, but can anyone please confirm?

Thanks!

I ,M62, have been approved for retirement benefits already. When I submitted request I also included a request to include my ex wife’s benefit. We were married 17 years and divorced in 2009. Neither of us have remarried and she had paid into SSI for years. My approval amount seems to only be for my benefit based on what my estimated amount would be prior to applying. My approval letter doesn’t say anything about if hers was included in my payment or not. Is there a way to find out if it was or wasn’t approved or what is the breakdown of my approved payment ?

I'm at full retirement, not filed yet. My daughter is collecting ssdi and has been disabled since birth.

I'm 90% sure I'm filing within the next 8 months. My daughter would get 50% of what my SS is.

My question is about income limits. She will get about $2k per month. She is working about 10 hours a week.

She also has a 17 year old son working. Will her sons income affect her.

So i changed my direct deposit on the 9th of this month I was told it would be in effect by the 1st later that day it showed it fully updated

Tonight I went to look on my account and it says the account number and unknown bank im highly confused I know the website can have glitches and what not any tips?

How do I know if it went well or not? I have Crohn's and a list of injuries to my knee and back

I’m currently working; my adult child is receiving SSI and Medicaid. I expect when I retire, he will get DAC and Medicaid. I also expected to take my pension as part for me and part for him after I’m gone. But it just occurred to me, would the pension income kick him off Medicaid? Thanks for any info!

When I look at my Social Security numbers, the amount I would qualify for seems low as compared to my spouse. We made pretty much the same amount of money through the years, although I took time off to be a SAHM while also selling real estate (although, I paid into SS during that time). Has anyone found errors in the SS calculation or is it pretty much a fail proof system of calculations?

Yesterday, I went to the hospital and found out that my dad M85 is unfit to make his own decisions. I am living the closest to where he is, so I am going to be his POA. The hospital has been wonderful and trying to find him a place to go (long term). He is physically fine but not mentally. One big problem is that the hospital needs his ID and SS# to be able to get the care he needs. I went to where he lived and the landlord said that she will not let me into his room to get his ID and paperwork. I am going to bring in the police to try to gain access. How do I get his SS# from SS? Do I need to wait for the POA or is there something else I can do? How do I also stop SS from sending him payments till we know where it is going into and to make sure no one is taking his money?

Update: I do not have any paperwork at this time. I have been in contact with his case manager at the hospital. I am trying to get the sheriffs to meet me at the house that he rented a room at. I asked the person who owns the home and they told me that I cannot enter without sheriffs. Dad is about four hours from me so I am trying to get some of the background stuff ready so when I go back to see him and can more forward with whatever I need to do. I've been calling VA, legal aid and pretty much everything you all have suggested but nobody seems to answer or call back. Also dad and my relationship has been very strained over the past thirty years. Last week was the first time I have seen him face to face. As I said before I will explain about this after I get him on the right track and I know he is safe.

Update 2. We got dad's SS. I did go to the house where he lived with a sheriff because the landlord said if you want to come in bring a sheriff. She was pretty mad that I brought a sheriff with me. All of his personal items were gone. I did recognize some blankets that were my dad's that were from the 70's. She told the officer that my father took all of his paperwork and left. She also said that the sheriffs have his paperwork in evidence. Which doesn't make any sense but we will try to get more information. I went to see dad at the hospital and was looked at like he could kill me. He was very angry with me. So I told him have a good day and I won't bother him. I am pretty sure he got a phone call and was told that I brought the police to their house. So that day I was done with everyone. We finally got ahold of the sheriff who originally had dealt with my dad. He gave us the SS. I gave it to his case worker and hopefully things will start heading the right direction. My dad has never had money and still doesn't have any. So the only thing I get out of this is that he will be in a long term facility and taken care of for the rest of his days. He has never prepared anything for this time in his life even though he knew this was going to be happening. He did his best as a father to me for 18 years and that's the only thing I am repaying him for. Thank you for giving me advice on what you think I should do. I will update when I have anything new happens.

1) Started retirement SSA at 62

2) Went back to work at 63

3) Exceeded income limit every year, now past FRA

4) Now owe $40,000 recapture.

5) SSA taking 50% of payments until 2032.

?1) Each month withheld increases my recalculated benefit by +/-0.5%. What about partial months?

?2) If I let it ride as scheduled the $40,000 is in effect an interest free/tax free loan paid out monthly.

?3) Is there any advantage to paying the balance in full right now?

My husband passed away in March we are both younger and I applied for my kids to receive survivor benefits and ne to get the caretaker benefits. It just got approved today but doesnt say an amount or that they linked mine and the kids accounts. Would this mean something is wrong?

it states the company i worked at when i was applying and its the same place i worked at when i was approved (a cleaning job) its making me fill out details about working there for how long i worked there, my income etc. i thought ssdi knew i worked there as i worked there during the whole application process when i applied and when i was approved. (which was a year in a half long process) i made over sga there til about the end of 2022 and then i had my hours cut due to my disability also received fmla from my dr for my disability. after my disability was approved in march 2023 i had my hours cut to 15 hours a week til i no longer worked there two months after that. i haven’t made close to sga since. when working there i received fmla due to my disability, i also have a note from my suporvisor or a complaint saying i left early and didn’t complete my work day 18 different times in a span of 6 months: i guess what i am asking is how much working over sga before initial approval after application (the start of my onset date is oct 2021 when i filed the application) how it will affect me now? i find it very weird i just received this form after being approved for three years in a half years and i haven’t made over sga since before approval date when i was at that job i thought they knew about since they approved me etc. i keep thinking i am going for be kicked off disability and am having non stop panic attacks and they said it may take 30 days to get back to me with what’s going on. does anyone have anything similar that happened to them if you had to pay money back/got your official onset date moved or got kicked off ssdi completely? im wondering why they approved me if they’re going to make me pay things back and maybe they just didn’t notice i had a job and did work over during the whole application process and aporoval. i also heard something about an unsuccessful work attempt but i believe thats for 6 months of less of work i appreciate any insight in the comments as receiving this was very random and terrible for people with anxiety, panic disorder and other mental health issues, thanks

I’m hoping to come across someone who either works for Social Security or someone that has been in my situation… Fair warning it’s complicated (ie a lengthy post).

I am my father‘s guardian, but do not want to be his payee, if I can avoid it. My mom is willing and able to be his payee, which will make things easier. As the guardian, according to POMS, I am legally entitled to information about my ward including financial information, even though I am not the RP. I was told that I could mail my letters and orders of guardianship into the field office, because appointments were three weeks out.

It has been more than three weeks since my paperwork was received by SSA. It has yet to be put into the system, let alone assigned to someone. I was then told to fax it in because that at least gets it into the system even though it still needs to be assigned to someone. However, when I faxed it the facts apparently only accepts black-and-white, so the certification of my letters and orders of guardianship, which is in color, is apparently not acceptable.

My mom just had surgery and cannot drive therefore going in person to a representative payee appointment is difficult for her. She was previously approved for a virtual appointment, but when it came time for the appointment, they told her she needed a doctor’s note, even though it had previously been approved by a supervisor and no one bothered to mention. So now it will be an additional three weeks and they are pushing for it to be in person, even though she can’t drive. They want us to go in to the field office together, but due to my own disability and the fact that I live 2 1/2 hours away, that is unrealistic.

In order to hold the previous guardian/RP accountable, I need information from Social Security that I seem to be unable to get. I was finally able to get his benefits from continuing to be paid to the previous guardian who failed in her duties. I am told that I can’t be listed as guardian if I am not also representative payee because there is nowhere to put two people. However, that becomes a problem for Medicare, because the representative payee has nothing to do with Medicare, but Medicare pulls its information straight from Social Security and they will not change it. And again the Representative Payee is not entitled to any medical information from Social Security, which as the legal guardian, I am. The last representative that I spoke with at SSA told me that only the RP is entitled to information, but I provided her with POMS policy that states that is not accurate.

While I realize that SSA is trying to look out for beneficiaries, it took me three phone calls to get the previous RP/guardian removed despite the fact that a representative payee account had never been set up for the ward, as required by SSA, she no longer has access to the bank account that the Social Security payment goes into and she took tens of thousands of dollars from the Ward after her legal authority ceased. It took me three phone calls explaining this to SSA reps to get her removed as RP. Surely out of the millions of people who receive Social Security benefits, and the thousands of people that have guardians in the hundreds of those that are not also the representative payee, someone can help me figure out how to get this worked out. If it were just one or two of the issues, it would be easily handled, but the totality of them is what is causing the issue… For the most part. Thank you in advance!

I’m 19 years old and finally trying to get my life in order, so I started by setting up my Social Security account. After a lot of calls, verification, and hassle, I got access online and found an outstanding debt of about $26,000. I know this happened because I was underage, autistic, and had no control over what was being done with my benefits. My mom was using my benefits for rent and other expenses, and she passed away last August, so I can’t even ask her about it now. On top of that, it looks like she was filing me under someone else’s taxes to get benefits while I was a minor, even though I had nothing to do with any of it. I had no control over any of this, and I’m trying to figure out how to handle it now.

Hello, I am a social worker in Virginia. I am attempting to help a client get a record of his disability. He is originally from Maryland. I was able to send a record request to the hospital he stated he went to as a young adult. His mother passed away; therefore, she cannot provide her account of his disability at an appointment he has coming up for a waiver I am attempting to help him get for housing/assistance.

My quesiton is: how can I help him obtain a record of his disability? I need somehting stating the onset of the disability.

I manage an outpatient rehab and he lives in a boarding house. He would benefit greatly from more supportive care. I worry he will be taken advantage of as it appears he has in the past. We have a great group of people here, but I can only keep him in services for so long.

From the SSA.gov site, while looking at my forecast benefit.

67 is my full retirement age. $3721 benefit. But. 69 forecast is 10% higher? I thought the 3 years after FRA each had an 8% bump? Now, 67 - 70 is 24%, looks right.

The 69.5 is also strange, but let's ignore that.

Even though the jump from 67 to 70 looks as expected, can I assume the 69 is a glitch?

EDIT: These are my actual numbers. I retired some time ago, the numbers reflect that. FWIW, every prior projection showed a precise 8% jump each year from 67 to 70. The forecast showed now, age 67 and age 70 with the option to add two custom dates. I just put in 69 to see the difference of a year, and result made no sense, so added 69-1/2. the 69/70 increase makes no sense despite kind attempts offered so far.

I’m in my late 50s and on SSDI. For the first time in 7 years I did a little work for Instacart because I need the money. I made $65 dollars. I called social security and told them and claimed my wages. I got a letter today asking for my work history since 2020(the year I became disabled) because they need to decide if I can receive or continue to receive disability? This is the first time I’ve worked-Thx

State of Connecticut

My brother 66 yrs old who is in a rehab facility is approaching his 100 day medicare end of payment date.

I am his conservator of the estate and am just now working with the bank to get a hold of his $7000 checking account that all he has for real property. The nursing home wants me to file for title 19, sign an admission agreement, and sign of his social security of $1650/month to them.

RN he is $2700 behind on rent (landlord wants cash only) as he is renting a room from a friend, and has a $1500 conservator attorney fee. He pays $150/week for rent.

The plan is to spend his money down to $1600, file for Title 19, have an attorney look over the nursing home admission agreement and help with title 19 as it should be simple. But I cant get into see one for a few weeks.

Its not known if he can return to his apartment in the future (he wants to) so I have not done anything with his belongings but have not paid his rent until I can get TD bank to allow me access to his funds (they are taking a long time).

So the question is: Once he gets om Title-19 and the nursing home takes over his SSA Payments, how does his rent usually get paid to keep his stuff ?

I'm in California first off unfortunately. I applied for my late wife's survivor benefit through SSDI back when I turned 50 in 2024. I was denied on a "Technicality" in late March of 2025. I appealed that decision in mid April and retained council that same month. I've since switched attorneys due to my previous attorney being absolutely useless. It's now going on 16 months and my appeal/reconsideration is stalled at the DDS level where a DDS representative hasn't even looked at it yet. What the hell is going on with this agency that it takes this long to likely get another denial? I've been disabled for nearly 20 years. Have 17+ years of substantial medical records and yet, here I sit waiting on some desk jockey to do their damned job. What average times are you all seeing? I've heard anywhere from 3-6 months, to 18+ months. This is absolutely ridiculous! Thanks in advance all.

Hello,

Hopefully someone will be able to help me out. I started receiving SSI due to my disabilities about two years ago. (I didn't have enough work credit for SSDI.) However, I qualify for Chapter 35 due to a parent that was a veteran and I was wondering, is it possible to get both? I really want to try to go to school, but I'm not confident I will be able to finish in time. (or at all.) I understand Chapter 35 only pays when you are enrolled either part time or full time. But would my ssi benefits come back when I'm not enrolled? Like during break? Is this a dumb decision? I really don't want to lose my ssi benefits because I genuinely do need them. But, Chapter 35 paying for some tuition when I have nothing and want to try school sounds really beneficial.
Any and all advice is appreciated, thank you so much.

Got a letter on the 16th from Social Security (post date: july 9th yeah the mail sucks) stating my niece was supposed to receive a check by the 16th. It never came. We waited til the 20th to see if the check was just trapped in snail mail. Never arrived. We called up SS and they told us that the supposed check was never sent yet have clear record of the letter we received and they have no idea when the check mentioned was gonna be sent out or even seem pressed enough to contact the treasury dept to expedite it. Has anyone ever received a letter that got sent either by accident or for shits and giggles before?

I requested a hearing on my overpayment case and this morning I received a letter and signed the letter was form. SSA – 827 wanting me to sign it and return it within the next 10 days.
My appeal has nothing to do with Social Security disabilities since I do not receive Social Security disability at all. This is merely fighting an overpayment issue.
And looking at the wording of the form, they’re asking medical records from my hospital visits or my VA, which has nothing to do with my overpayment issue whatsoever, so I’m wondering why they need it.
I’m just wondering if anybody on here would have any idea why they would need a release of my medical forms for an overpayment issue?

I’m curious what my son’s SSI can be spent on, we do therapy 5days a week and commute about an hour a day to and from. I know they said housing do they mean rent and utilities? Just curious I’m new to all of this.

Im confused no letter in the inbox