Who Can Get SSD Benefits

If you are disabled, you can get Social Security benefits until age 65. When you reach age 65, your disability benefits automatically convert to retirement benefits, but the amount remains the same.

Certain members of your family may qualify for benefits on your record.

They Include:

• Your spouse who is age 62 or older, or any age if he/she is caring for a child of yours who is under age 16 or disabled and also receiving checks;

• Your disabled widow or widower age 50 or older;

• Your unmarried son or daughter, including an adopted child, or, in some cases, a stepchild or grandchild. The child must be under age 18 or under age 19 if in high school full time.
  
  
• Your unmarried son or daughter, age 18 or older, if he or she has a disability that started before age 22.

Your local Social Security office can tell you if you are insured after looking at your earnings record. You should also ask them for your Date Last Insured. If you are insured and you stop working for any reason, you will generally continued to be insured for only a few years. You must prove that you became disabled prior to the Date Last Insured to qualify for SSD.

The Social Security disability (SSD) program is insurance-based, it does not matter what your other income or assets happen to be. There is no minimum age limit. To receive SSD benefits you have to apply during the time you are insured.

If you have been working for several years and paying into Social Security, chances are you are insured for Social Security disability. You have to have a minimum of 6 credits and a maximum of 40 credits to be insured. The older you are, the more work credits you need. You earn a credit for each quarter that you work. You have to make a minimum amount in each quarter to get the credit. This amount is adjusted upward every year. However, you only have to have met the minimum that was applicable during each quarter that you worked.

How many credits you need for disability benefits depends on how old you are when you become disabled.

• If you become disabled before age 24, you generally need 1.5 years of work (six credits) in the three years before you became disabled.
  
  
• If you are 24 through 30, you generally need credits for half of the time betweenage 21 and the time you became disabled.
  
  
• If you are disabled at age 31 or older, you generally need at least 20 credits in the 10 years immediately before you became disabled. The following table showsexamples of how many credits you would need if you became disabled at various selected ages. This table does not cover all situations.

Your local Social Security office can tell you if you are insured after looking at your earnings record. You should also ask them for your Date Last Insured. If you are insured and you stop working for any reason, you will generally continued to be insured for only a few years. You must prove that you became disabled prior to the Date Last Insured to qualify for SSD.