Hi I recieve DAC benefits on my deceased father's record. If my mother were to start collecting on her own record would my benefits increase? I was told yes and no. Most recently told that my benefits only increase if a sibling came off the record not a spouse.
Thank you!

Hi,

I don't have enough information about your situation to be able to answer your question. You can only receive disabled adult child's benefits on one record at a time, so you couldn't get benefits on both your mother's record and your father's record. However, you indicate that your current benefit rate may be impacted by the family maximum amount (https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/COLA/familymax.html) payable on your father's record. And, if and when your mother files for benefits on her record, the family maximum from her record could be combined with the family maximum on your father's record in order to potentially free up more total benefits to be paid to you and your family members. This is referred to as a combined family maximum.

The maximization software available on this website is programmed to handle combined family maximum cases, so if your mother is considering filing for her retirement benefits, she may want to consider running the software in order to determine what effect her filing would have on the benefits payable to you and your family members.

Best, Jerry