Understanding the Basics of Social Security Spouse Benefits

Disability can bring a lot of hassle and inconvenience to you and your loved one as well. You could lose your income or worse result to your death. The good news is you can be qualified to avail of disability benefits under the law of your state.

If you are a spouse of a disabled employee who has their paid social security taxes, you are eligible to avail of social security spouse benefits. Here we will look at the basic principle of how spouses can available of disability benefits.

Determining your social security benefits can be easy. In fact, you do not even have to go out of your house. If you have a personal computer, all you need to do is log on to the Internet and check out what the search engines have for you. There are trusted websites that focus on social security disability. You can also check out the official website of the Social Security Administration (SSA).

Current, divorced, or former spouses are entitled to receive benefits if the marriage lasts for a minimum of ten years. However, although the law allows workers to avail of benefits for up to five spouses, each marriage should have followed proper divorce.

Since age 70 is the latest age for retiring and because pre-teen marriage is not recognized in any state, the number of successive benefits will not be more than five in a ten-year period. The non-working spouse may be eligible to receive benefits only upon application of the disabled worker.

The earliest age that the spouse can avail of benefits is at 60 years old. The beneficiary will receive full benefits since they retired at the start of the normal retirement age. However, if the spouse decides to avail of the benefits before the retirement age, it will be subjected to actuarial reduction.

If you are a handicapped widow or widower, the minimum age requirement in order to avail of social security spouse benefits is 50 years old. Under the law, you are qualified to receive disability benefits, if you become handicapped immediately after the demise of your spouse at age 50.

When availing of spousal benefits, your application can be facilitated if you have the following documents:

• Death certificate
• Your SS number as well as the dead worker’s number
• Birth certificate
• In the case of a widow or widower, marriage certificate
• Divorce papers, if applicable
• SS number of dependent
• Your dead spouse’s W-2 form, or federal self-employment tax return, for the current year
• Depository bank and account numbers

If these documents are not available, the Social Security Administration can obtain them for you.

Understanding these provisions can be too much for you. By hiring a competent social security disability lawyer, things will not be as complicated as they are before you hired an attorney. They can make things more convenient and hassle-free. Just make sure that you are comfortable with the lawyer otherwise, everything will just be waste of time and money.

When hiring these lawyers, you do not have to worry about attorney’s fees. Most of them charge a contingency fee. This means that they will not collect anything from you until the issue has been resolved and compensation has been determined.

Our Los Angeles attorneys are experts in handling Social Security spouse benefits claims. For your inquiries and free case evaluation, please do visit our website.