I have a couple of questions that I am hoping you can answer.My 30 year old son gets SSI not SSDI as he does not have work credits. Social Security has told me that his designation of Temporarily Disabled will never be changed to full disabled because of that . Is that correct? Secondly his mother is of retirement age and is retiring at the end of August but not going to file as she will be getting a federal pension and would rather wait a few more years to file as the payment will be greater. So my question is can my son re-file under her SS and if yes does he need to wait till she collects or can he file now? Also the rules he must follow for savings etc and earnings with SSI are archaic and I am hoping when he does file against his mother they will loosen up a bit.
Thank you any answers you can provide.
Andy

Hi Andy. Neither 'temporarily disabled' nor 'fully disabled' are used in official Social Security terminology. To qualify for disability benefits, be it Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Social Security disability (SSDI), disabled adult child (DAC) or disabled widow's benefits (DWB), a person must be classified as being unable to do substantial gainful activity (SGA). Either a temporary or permanent impairment can be considered disabling, but the disability must be expected to keep a person from being able to perform SGA for a minimum of 12 months.

Social Security never classifies any impairment as a permanent disability. All people getting disability benefits are subject to having their cases reviewed periodically to make sure they are still disabled. Nor does Social Security categorize disabilities as temporary, full, partial, etc. You're either classified as disabled (i.e. unable to perform SGA), or you aren't eligible for disability benefits. If your son receives SSI disability benefits, it simply means that Social Security currently considers him to be disabled by their standards.

In order for your son to qualify for DAC benefits one or both of his parents must either be drawing Social Security retirement or disability benefits, or be deceased. It would also have to be determined that he became disabled prior to age 22 in order for your son to qualify for DAC benefits. Their is no limit on the amount of savings that a person can have and still be able to qualify for DAC benefits. There are, however, limits on how much you can earn and still be disabled. Basically, DAC benefits could be terminated if the recipient's earnings exceed SGA level for an extended period of time. The current monthly SGA level in 2021 is $1310 (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10095.pdf).

Best, Jerry