My daughter is 19, 100% blind, Currently receives Supplemental Security Income. for Past two years she has managed a self employment income (All reported properly and filed with her taxes and shows in her SSA Web portal) around +/- $7,000 a year from various things, (Baby sitting, house care, secretarial type work, etc...). Most likely will not increase, at least for next few years while she is in college.

As I understand, I do get $684 in SSDI, so in theory, being my only child over 18, she'd be eligible for DAC of $342 and rest supplemented via SSI. Recently I have been told this should have been automatic when she turned 18, however, nothing has ever been said during any of review, so I wonder if it's just not a case of it being to low. However, It seems since she has at least couple years of employment, she might be eligible for more on her own record.

My questions are,
Is there a minimum age she needs to file for her own entitlement, I.E. I have heard 24? I know 6 work credits which I believe she has.
If not, assuming her income would not any higher, would it behoove her at all to delay the application for SSDI under her own record as it doesn't seem average would change in the calculation? But do more work credits effect amount of benefit at all?
Do you know if there is a minimum SSDI benefit for child to get DAC on ones record?

I really do greatly appreciate all the information and help you nice folks have provided. Thank you sooo much.

Hi,

No, there is no minimum age requirement for Social Security disability (SSDI) benefits, and if your daughter has at least two years of Social Security covered earnings in the neighborhood of $7000 per year then she'll likely qualify.

It sounds like your own SSDI benefit rate is probably too low for any disabled adult child's (DAC) benefits to be payable from your record. That's due to the special family maximum benefit (FMB) formula that Social Security uses to determine how much, if any, auxiliary (e.g. spouse, child) benefits can be paid on the account of a person receiving SSDI. That formula can result in an FMB equal to 100% of the disabled worker's SSDI rate, leaving no potential benefits available for eligible auxiliaries.

Since your daughter is drawing Supplemental Security Income (SSI), she's required to file for SSDI and/or DAC benefits if she's eligible for either benefit. SSI is a needs based benefit, and one of the requirements for eligibility is that a person must file for any other benefits for which they're potentially eligible. If your daughter does qualify for SSDI or DAC benefits, it shouldn't reduce her total benefits. Her SSI benefit amount wouldn't be offset by any more than the higher of her SSDI or DAC rate.

Also, if your daughter does qualify for SSDI benefits and if she continues to have Social Security covered earnings in the future, her SSDI rate can potentially be recalculated to credit her with higher earnings years. So, it wouldn't be advantageous to delay applying for SSDI even if she had that option.

Best, Jerry