Will Marriage Affect My child's Social Security Disability Benefits

[Jenn1313]

My boyfriend wants to marry me and we have been together for 9 years and have a 2 year old. My sister in law says that if I get married My son can loose his SSI benefits.. It worries me because his father abandoned him since he was 4 and I have no income and no child support from his father. When I was married with my son's father for 11 years (but separated) I never had any problems with SSI or benefits being taken away..I guess they did not find out I was married? Can my child's SSI be taken away IF I do get married BUT we don't live in the same household? Or Social security still have an issue with that? It seems the only option I have to keep his SSI is get marry but live apart? I find it VERY unfair that they want to count his income and assume my boyfriend is obligated to support my child and buy what he needs with his paycheck...

 

[Kit Cat]

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It depends how high your husband's income is and how high your income is and how many children live in the house.

There is a good chance the SSI will be reduced or eliminated, but it depends on the family income. If you want to write your household income and how many kids I may be able to give you an estimate.

With your previous spouse, they did not count his income because you were separated and lived separately.

I honestly don't know how social security will view it if you NEVER live together but get married. They may not accept this as a real separation, but I do not know.

Even if you never get married, living together can be risky, because in some cases they will consider that you are like a married couple and count his income. This does not happen often, but it can happen.

I don't know how old your child is. Once he turns 18 this will not matter. You can get married then, and it will have no effect on your son's SSI, even if you all live together, as long as your son arranged to pay his share of the rent, food, and utilities.

 

[Jenn1313]

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It depends how high your husband's income is and how many children live in the house.

There is a good chance the SSI will be reduced or eliminated, but it depends on the family income. If you want to write your household income and how many kids I may be able to give you an estimate.

With your previous spouse, they did not count his income because you were separated and lived separately.

I honestly don't know how social security will view it if you NEVER live together but get married. They may not accept this as a real separation, but I do not know.

Even if you never get married, living together can be risky, because in some cases they will consider that you are like a married couple and count his income. This does not happen often, but it can happen.

I don't know how old your child is. Once he turns 18 this will not matter.

You can get married then, and it will have no effect on your son's SSI, even if you all live together, as long as your son arranged to pay his share of the rent, food, and utilities.

My son is 12 yrs old.. I already told the SSI I take from his check to pay part of rent. I know that with my boyfriends income they will take it away because when I was receiving $300 a month from from social services (TANF) they deducted my son's SSI from $700 to $200! I imagine IF I get marry they will eliminate his SSI my boyfriend makes about $2,000 every 2 weeks and after taxes and medical,dental etc are taken out is about $1200 and it all goes to rent, bills, insurance etc..barely enough to get by.. We are a family of 4 (2 adults 2 children). What did you mean when he turns 18 it doesn't matter? It would still have an effect since he will be in the household and the same would apply since they already know I take from his check for expenses like rent.. I'm curious IF I get married would the social security find out?

 

[Silverplum]

My son is 12 yrs old.. I already told the SSI I take from his check to pay part of rent. I know that with my boyfriends income they will take it away because when I was receiving $300 a month from from social services (TANF) they deducted my son's SSI from $700 to $200! I imagine IF I get marry they will eliminate his SSI my boyfriend makes about $2,000 every 2 weeks and after taxes and medical,dental etc are taken out is about $1200 and it all goes to rent, bills, insurance etc..barely enough to get by.. We are a family of 4 (2 adults 2 children). What did you mean when he turns 18 it doesn't matter? It would still have an effect since he will be in the household and the same would apply since they already know I take from his check for expenses like rent.. I'm curious IF I get married would the social security find out?

We don't help people defraud the government.

You keep that in mind, too, Kitcat.

 

[Kit Cat]

We don't help people defraud the government.

You keep that in mind, too, Kitcat.

what's with the condescending warning?

 

[Jenn1313]

We don't help people defraud the government.

You keep that in mind, too, Kitcat.

Defraud would be me lying and telling the social security that we DO NOT live together and then live together .. I'm asking about Us getting married and NOT living together which we don't due to my son losing benefits!! I was asking about what would happen if we DO live together.. I NEVER asked you to help me defraud the government either not sure where I asked you that??. I know a lot of ppl who actually are married and DO NOT live together but Thanks anyways!

 

[Kit Cat]

My son is 12 yrs old.. I already told the SSI I take from his check to pay part of rent. I know that with my boyfriends income they will take it away because when I was receiving $300 a month from from social services (TANF) they deducted my son's SSI from $700 to $200! I imagine IF I get marry they will eliminate his SSI my boyfriend makes about $2,000 every 2 weeks and after taxes and medical,dental etc are taken out is about $1200 and it all goes to rent, bills, insurance etc..barely enough to get by.. We are a family of 4 (2 adults 2 children). What did you mean when he turns 18 it doesn't matter? It would still have an effect since he will be in the household and the same would apply since they already know I take from his check for expenses like rent.. I'm curious IF I get married would the social security find out?

Yes, it is important that no one else pays for your son's share of the rent, food, or utilities. Only you or your son should pay those things or it will make his check go down. He is allowed to receive other kinds of gifts like clothes or medical care, as long as they are not cash.

If you get married, you want to tell social security about it right away. If you don't, they will likely find out about it eventually and then you will owe them money.

Like I mentioned, even if you are not married, if you decide to live with your boyfriend this may cause a problem in some cases. It is pretty rare that this causes a problem, but every now and then someone does run into difficulties this way.

You are not on SSi yourself, correct?

Yes, once your son becomes an adult, you can get married and it won't matter You can still live with your son and you can all live together as a family if you want.

Your son is an adult at that point. They will not look at your income or your husbands income, even if you all live together with your son. As long as your son pays his share of rent, food, and utilities his check will not be reduced.

I believe they consider him an adult starting at age 18, but in some cases it is age 19, so you would need to check that.

this is not your question, but good to keep in mind:
At age 18 he will have a medical review. This is very important because many children lose their SSI at this time. If he is still disabled, you want to make sure he has good medical records so he can pass the review. Social Security will look to see that he is regularly seeing a doctor. It is best if you can find a doctor that supports your son and believes that he is disabled and make sure the doctors knows all your son's symptoms and limitations. I don't know what your son was approved for, there are some disabilities that are just lifelong and not treatable so this wouldn't apply.

let me take a look at the numbers you gave...

 

[Kit Cat]

The SSI regs are super complicated so I cannot guarantee this is correct. The number I come up with is that your son's ssi would be reduced to $50 per month. However, I'm not completely sure if they will look at the income before or after health insurance. Bottom line is, yes, I do think this will have a significant impact on his check