Hello,
Am 51 yrs old never worked been disabled before I was 17 years old my only income is SSI . I got married in 2000. My husband now is retired he collects his pension & social security . (Keep in mind we do not live together ) . I have searched the Social Security website and all I see is when both spouses are working or when one spouse retires and the wife can collect either off her own work record at retirement age or wait until she is at retirement age to collect off the spouse. There is nothing that I have seen that says anything about a disabled spouse that can collect off her husband's work. And there is nothing that I have seen that says that I can't either I'm a little bit confused I would really appreciate some input on this if I can collect off of my husband's work record since I am disabled or do I have to wait till full retirement age

Hi,

Unless you have a child in your care who is eligible for benefits on your husband's record, the earliest that you could qualify for spousal benefits is age 62. There is no such benefit as a disabled spousal benefit, although disabled widow's can be eligible for benefits as early as age 50 on the record of a deceased spouse.

If you are still drawing SSI (Supplemental Security Income) payments when you reach age 62 you will be required to file for reduced spousal benefits as a condition for continuing eligibility for SSI. And, your SSI will be offset basically dollar for dollar by the amount of your spousal benefit, although there is no SSI offset for the first $20 of other income. So, if your spousal rate is less than your SSI rate you will likely either end up receiving the same total amount of benefits of possibly as much as $20 more monthly.

Best, Jerry