I Larry
I sent you an email at the school I guess

I just wanted to ask if you’re on Social Security disability and recently six years ago started collecting widows disabled benefits can I eliminate Social Security disability and not have to pay them back all the money they gave me over the years?

Like I want to eliminate my Social Security disability and go straight widows because I was told if I eliminate my Social Security disability that would increase to what my husband was entitled to

But then I was told that if I illuminate disability I have to pay everything back to them. But I am allowed to go on retirement my own retirement which is not that much but they didn’t mention paying back the security disability if I do that

So why do I have to pay them back if I buy one for widows but I don’t have to pay them back if I don’t wanna retirement my own retirement

Thank you kindly I appreciate it

So right now I’m getting one so security disability check
And I’m getting a second check Widows disability check

And I’m also getting Workmen’s Compensation and I turn 62 and they just sent me the letter
Or $10,000 they’re giving me 30 days to pay it back and recently a couple days ago there’s no money they took my whole Social Security disability check didn’t even leave enough to pay for Medicare premiums so now I have to come up with 550 to pay Medicare premium. I can’t believe this is America I don’t know what’s going on

Hi. No, you can't simply cancel Social Security disability (SSDI) benefits. You could withdraw your claim for SSDI, but you'd then be required to repay all of the SSDI benefits you've received.

Furthermore, even if you could stop your SSDI benefits, it almost certainly wouldn't be disadvantageous for you to do so. SSDI benefits aren't reduced for age, whereas disabled widow's benefits (DWB) are. If you weren't drawing SSDI benefits and you were only collecting DWB benefits, your net benefit rate would go down.

For example, let's say Dawn is drawing SSDI benefits. Dawn's primary insurance amount (PIA) is $1000, which is what she's then paid. SSDI benefits are calculated at 100% of the disabled person's PIA. If Dawn later becomes entitled to DWB benefits, her DWB benefit rate would be calculated by subtracting her own PIA from her deceased spouse's PIA, and then reducing the difference by 28.5%. So, if Dawn's spouse's PIA is $2000, her reduced DWB rate would be $715 (i.e. ($2000 - $1000) x .715). Dawn would then receive both benefits for a total of $1715 (i.e. $1000 + $715).

But, if Dawn in our example above was only drawing DWB and not SSDI, then her benefit rate would be calculated by reducing her deceased spouse's full PIA by 28.5%, giving Dawn a total benefit amount of $1430 (i.e. $2000 x .715). Thus, Dawn would be worse off by $285 per month if she was only drawing DWB instead of both SSDI and DWB.

Also, people who become entitled to DWB after they are already receiving SSDI benefits are eligible to have the reduction removed from their DWB rate when they reach full retirement age (FRA). So, it sounds like you will be eligible for a higher benefit rate when you reach FRA, but I can't guarantee that because I don't have all of the details about your benefit entitlement.

As for the overpayment you apparently received, Social Security law as passed by Congress includes a provision for potentially offsetting SSDI benefits when a person also receives worker's compensation benefits. It sounds like that may be the cause of your overpayment, but I can't be sure without access to all of your records. I would suggest contacting Social Security to ask them to explain your options with regard to the overpayment.

Best, Jerry