My husband and I have an adult child who is 22 years old. She has had a very rare debilitating illness since she was 10 or 11 years old. She has been misdiagnosed for 11+ years. She finally received an accurate diagnosis July 19, 2019. Although she has attempted to attend college and work many times, since graduating from high school, she is unable to sustain either because of her debilitating symptoms. I am 63 years old and my husband is 62. My husband works full-time. I work part-time so that I may be available to care for our adult daughter as needed. The cost of caring for her with increased medical needs is becoming a much bigger hardship on us. However, neither of us are currently taking SS benefits of any kind and it appears from my research that because of this, our disabled adult daughter may not qualify for any benefits under either my husband or my SS benefits. She has never been able to work long enough to have enough pay-in to SS to qualify on her own. Is there any way that you are aware that such an individual may be eligible to receive assistance? There is no guaranteed end in sight for her disability at this time, so this will continue to be the case unless we are able to identify an alternative for some help until one of us stops working or dies. I would be most appreciative for any advice you may have. Thank you!

Hi,

I'm sorry to hear about your daughter's illness.

You're correct that your daughter couldn't qualify for disabled adult child's (DAC) benefits at least until either you or your husband dies or starts drawing your Social Security retirement or disability benefits. She might be able to qualify for Supplemental Security Income (SSI), though, which is a needs based benefit administered by the Social Security Administration.

To qualify for SSI, your daughter would need to be determined disabled by Social Security standards, and her income and assets would need to be below the required limits (https://www.ssa.gov/ssi/). You might want to try using the screening tool available on the following Social Security connected website in order to determine if your daughter might be eligible for SSI: https://ssabest.benefits.gov/.

You and your husband may also want to consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to explore and compare your options in order to determine the best way to maximize your benefits.

Best, Jerry