What Happens to My SSDI If I Get Married?
If you’re applying for SSDI with plans to find a partner sometime in the future, you may be wondering, “What happens to my SSDI if I get married?”
Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) is a program designed to provide financial assistance to individuals who are unable to work due to a disability. Your eligibility for SSDI benefits is based on your work history and the severity of your disability. You pay into the system like an insurance program, which makes the funds available to you if you ever need them.
As a result, the SSA treats you as an individual when considering your application. In general, getting married will not affect your SSDI benefits.
What If My Spouse Also Receives Disability?
If you and your spouse both receive SSDI benefits, neither should affect the other. Both of you paid into the system, and so both of you are eligible to receive full benefits if you qualify.
SSI is a different kind of welfare program from SSDI. With SSI, your combined benefits may be limited by what’s known as the “couple’s limit.” This limit is based on the average earnings of a healthy worker.
However, SSDI (or disability insurance) doesn’t take the other person’s income into consideration. The SSA only looks at your eligibility and what you’ve paid into the system already.
What Happens to My SSDI If I Get Married to Someone Who Is High-Income/Wealthy?
Even if your spouse makes 10x the amount you do, it shouldn’t affect your SSDI benefits.
However, a lot of people in that situation might choose not to apply for SSDI. It can take time and energy, and some high-income couples would find it not to be worth the effort.
What If I Am a Widow / Widower of Someone Who Received SSDI?
A surviving widow or widower may be eligible to receive disability payments if you meet certain requirements and if your spouse was eligible for SSDI benefits at the time of their death.
In that situation, you would likely lose those benefits if you remarried.
Help With Your Disability Application
It’s always a good idea to review your financial situation with the Social Security Administration (SSA) if you have any concerns about how a change in your circumstances might affect your SSDI benefits.
In general, though, marriage shouldn’t cause problems for your SSDI application or the benefits you receive. Instead, you should focus on getting approved in the first place.
The majority of people get denied on their first try. In that situation, you have 60 days to appeal your application. You should get an attorney to help you through the process.
That’s where we come in.
Our Memphis SSDI attorneys have helped hundreds of people get the benefits they need and deserve—and we can help you, too.
We work with you to strengthen your application, fight for you in court, and ultimately help you get your SSDI benefits.
The conversation is free, and we don’t win anything unless you do. (Even then it’s only a small fraction of your past-due benefits. So you keep everything moving forward).
Remember, you only have 60 days to appeal, so don’t wait to get started. Call us today at 901-327-2100 or fill out the form on this page to have us contact you.