Hi Larry I'm currently still married and my wife receives ssi now,and we are getting divorce next month and I have applied for ssd myself and have been waiting over 5and years to get approved. I'm question is would I be eligible to receive any of her ssi benefits(until I get approved for ssd)after are divorce is finalized we have been married over 10 years .thank you p.s.any recommendation of how I can get approved any faster for ssd .I have been denied 2 times and we are appealing now.but like I said I've been waiting 5 1/2years and I'm homeless until I get approved
Hi. I'm sorry to hear about the problems you're having. As far as getting benefits from your wife's record, the only way that you could possibly qualify for spousal or divorced spousal benefits is if your wife is collecting either Social Security disability (SSDI) or retirement benefits, not Supplemental Security Income (SSI). SSI is a needs based benefit, and no auxiliary or survivor benefits are payable under that program.
Even if your wife is receiving Social Security disability (SSDI) or retirement benefits, you could only potentially qualify for spousal or divorced spousal benefits if you're at least age 62 or if you have a child in your care who's eligible for benefits on your wife's account and who is either under age 16 or is disabled. Also, assuming that you were born after January 1 1954 and that you don't have an eligible child in your care, you couldn't apply for spousal or divorced spousal benefits without also applying for your own Social Security retirement benefits at the same time. And in that event, you could only qualify for spousal or divorced spousal benefits if your own primary insurance amount (PIA) is less than half as much as your wife's PIA.
I wish I knew of a way for you to expedite the processing of your disability claim. The only thing I can suggest is to promptly respond to any requests you receive from Social Security or any other offices involved in handling your appeal, and to periodically contact Social Security to check on the status of your appeal.
Best, Jerry
