Qualifying children

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

I have children and their father has recently went for a hearing is waiting on a decision. I was told that the kids will qualify for benefits. I have several questions.
How is the amount determined?
What are the rules for the cutoff age to recieve benefits?
Do the children recieve back pay as well?
What steps if any do I need to take to set up their case?
If a child is 18 but still in high school do they qualify, and for how long?

Deanna

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Tue, 12/29/2015 - 10:15 Permalink

Hi there,
Yes he is, even if he is older than age 18. He will just need to be unmarried. If his father's benefits are higher than his, then he will be eligible for up to 50% of his father's benefits, plus be eligible for Medicare.

shorty (not verified)
Mon, 12/28/2015 - 20:13 Permalink

My wife is 50 im 40 yearsold we adopted one grandchild so far and in process of adopting another can the child get social security if we both work still and we ain't disabled or retired?

Deanna

In reply to by shorty (not verified)

Tue, 12/29/2015 - 10:18 Permalink

Well if you aren't disabled or retired, they cannot get benefits unless THEY are disabled. Social Security benefits are not for young, healthy families who are able to work.

Jenn (not verified)
Mon, 12/28/2015 - 21:35 Permalink

Ok so me and my ex had a baby in October of 2015 he was already disabled and recieving benefits for years... He has 2 older children who recieve auxiliary benefits my question is will my daughter be able to recieve back pay from the time she was born or is there no back pay at all

Deanna

In reply to by Jenn (not verified)

Tue, 12/29/2015 - 10:20 Permalink

Hi Jenn,
No, she is not eligible for any back pay from the years he was receiving benefits, because she did not exist for all of those years. She should start receiving benefits from birth onward. IF she was not receiving any benefits at the time of her birth, she could be eligible for back pay.

Jenn (not verified)

In reply to by Deanna

Tue, 12/29/2015 - 13:56 Permalink

Ok that's what I meant sorry so from the time she was born she would get back pay ?

Deanna

In reply to by Jenn (not verified)

Wed, 12/30/2015 - 09:37 Permalink

I believe so! If she was eligible for benefits from the time of birth onwards, she could be eligible for back pay. The SSA does not include the first five months for back pay though, so she may not be able to receive any back pay until she was 5 months old and onward.

melanie (not verified)
Tue, 12/29/2015 - 01:14 Permalink

My husband receives ssdi for his heart. My daughter of course gets Hal of what he gets. I am getting ready to leave him . He won't call SSA out of spite toward me. I will be calling SSA...how long will it be and what is the process of becoming her payee?

Deanna

In reply to by melanie (not verified)

Tue, 12/29/2015 - 10:21 Permalink

Hi Melanie,
It is actually a pretty simple process. You will just need to schedule an appointment with your local SSA office and fill out some paperwork that will allow you to become her payee.

Amy (not verified)
Tue, 12/29/2015 - 03:49 Permalink

Here's my problem. I have a 7 year old daughter whose father became disabled before she was born. He receives about $571 in SSDI AND $100+ in SSI. I tried taking him to court for child support. They ordered him to pay $272 but suspended it because they deemed him indigent. So I went to my local Social security office and they told me that my daughter was eligible for auxiliary benefits due to his "type of disability". I know with him being on SSDI, that she is eligible for 50% of his benefits because he has no other children. I'm trying to figure out why I'm being told she isn't eligible. Can you help explain this to me? Is the fact that he's also receiving SSI standing in the way of my daughter receiving benefits? My daughter meets the criteria for receiving auxiliary benefits. I'm just about ready to go talk to a social security lawyer. I know in order for him to be receiving the SSDI that he had worked and earned enough credits to qualify for it. I just don't understand and I feel like my local social security office is giving me the run around.

Deanna

In reply to by Amy (not verified)

Tue, 12/29/2015 - 10:22 Permalink

Hi Amy,
There is no reason she shouldn't be receiving 50% of his SSDI benefits. SSI should have nothing do to with it, because her receiving SSDI will not affect his payments at all! I would contact an attorney or someone else who can help you with this issue.

Doreen (not verified)
Tue, 12/29/2015 - 12:44 Permalink

I have a son 17 who is receiving ssdi auxiliary benefits as his dad is on disability. For the past six months my son has been living in a residential treatment facility (as he has autism). Will this affect his monthly benefit amount?
Thanks very much. I am hoping not as I need the money to get him placed in a better program.

Deanna

In reply to by Doreen (not verified)

Wed, 12/30/2015 - 09:36 Permalink

Hi Doreen,
I don't believe it will. Living in treatment facilities typically only affects people on SSI benefits, not on SSDI benefits.

Alayna (not verified)
Tue, 12/29/2015 - 19:56 Permalink

I was reading that there is a maximum that a claimant can receive. It says you can receive 150-180% of your benefit. I have 2 children and my approx. benefit would be $2100 for only myself. Can you help me understand more about this? It's a little confusing. Thank you.

Deanna

In reply to by Alayna (not verified)

Wed, 12/30/2015 - 09:58 Permalink

Sure thing, Alayna.
Each child is entitled to 50% of your benefits. If you were to earn $2,100, that would mean that each child could theoretically earn $1050 per month in addition to your payment. But a household income cannot exceed 180% of your monthly payment. So each child would receive 40% of your payment instead, or about $840. This makes your household income 180%.

Deanna

In reply to by Alayna (not verified)

Wed, 12/30/2015 - 16:43 Permalink

No problem Alayna! Your actual figures will likely vary from what I wrote but it should be very similar.

Anonymous (not verified)
Tue, 12/29/2015 - 22:00 Permalink

I tried to explain in an earlier comment I guess I'm not explaining this correctly because I'm cant really understand the logic of some of the ss rules, I'm sorry. I'll try again. My oldest son is twenty four, has been disabled since birth but he did not qualify for any kind of ss because I worked and my income was considered enough, if I have it correctly, ssa explained to me many years ago,Since my son was never employed he would only be eligible for ssi which the ssa employee explained, is very similar to welfare all income in the household needs to be looked at and basically since I was working a full time job my son was not eligible. If he continued to be disabled he could apply for his own ssi when he finished school. At about the time my son graduated at twenty one I helped my son apply for his own ssi benefits. He lives in my home but is considered to be on his own and paying his own way. My son was awarded ssi of approximately 750. This was fine so far everything making sense to me. Here's where I get messed up though, about ten years before my son was awarded ssi for himself I became disabled since I had worked for almost twenty years I was told I was being awarded ssd and that amount came to approximately 1400. per month and that both my children would receive benefits of 350 each per month. Two children meant a total of 700. My husband was employed full time at the time I was awarded benefits. I believe I understood ssa correctly that my husband's income didn't concern them, either way my children would receive this benefit because I was disabled. A couple of years later my husband gets seriously injured at work he collected worker's comp for some time but eventually he had to apply for ssd he was awarded considerably less 800 per month. So first question should my children be elegible for any additional benefits from his ssdi? I never got a clear answer from anyone at ssa and eventually assumed the answer is no. Eventually, my oldest son turned twenty one and was awarded his own ssi he never worked so he was not elegible for ssd only ssi. For one year ssa paid him 750 a month and the 350 a month I had been receiving on his behalf because he was entitled to benefits not of his own disability but because I became disabled, was added to my second son who is younger and still a minor. So my income is the same 1400, my husbands stayed the same 800, but instead of each of my children receiving 350 only one child, the minor was receiving benefit thru my ssd so his benefit increased to 700. Until a year went by and ssa told me this is an error. My oldest son is to continue to receive his 350 and as long as I'm disabled he will be entitled to benefits from me. So my younger son, who is a minor received my older sons benefit of 350 in error. So they changed it back so each child receives 350 a month. However they reduced my oldest son ssi by 350. So my oldest son receives the exact same amount he would have received with or without my benefits and my younger son is shorted 350. Irritates the heck out of me really, to say my children are elegible to receive half of my monthly benefit regardless of my husband's income, but then take the same money away because my oldest is disabled. There is no benefit here its a loss. To call this a benefit seems fraudulent to me. I could maybe understand if I didn't have a minor child and the whole 700 went to my disabled adult child and ssi covered the extra fifty bucks but still it's silly like money going in a circle. I guess that's my question how is my older son benefiting from my ssd. When I ask ssa they tell me he is lucky to get this benefit. And I guess they are even luckier because they take it right back and keep it instead of adding it to my minor sons benefit. If my son had filed for disability after age twenty four would this mean he would not be entitled to benefits thru my ssd and if so can he cancel or drop his ssi and file again without having to worry about getting my benefits? Or how about my younger son he is entitled to any thing thru my husband's ssd especially since he's not receiveing an entire benefit thru me. If my husband and I separate would my younger son be entitled to any child support from my husband, who is my youngest sons father? Any information you know of would be helpful. Or even if you could point me to a person who handles more complicated issues at ssa it's just when I ask these questions to ssa I don't even feel like the person I'm talking to is confident in their answers. Thank you

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