My girlfriend and I want to get married. She receives some type of social security. She divorced. Her ex-husband passed away when her daughter was 11. Her daughter received SSI and now as an adult received SSI disability. My girlfriend also receives a monthly check we assume for caring for her daughter who will never be able to live alone. She was told if she was to get married she would lose the check receives. Her daughter does work a part-time job but is unable to drive etc... which means my girlfriend has to be available to always provide transportation as we do not have public transit in the small town we live in. Why does getting married affect her Social Security since she must still be available and provide support and care to her disabled daughter?

Hi,

Apparently what your girlfriend receives is a child in care survivor benefit referred to as surviving divorced mother's benefits. The simple answer to why she can't receive those benefits if she remarries is it's a provision of the Social Security law as passed by Congress (https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/handbook/handbook.04/handbook-0416.html). I can only guess at Congress's reasoning, but I presume that they require the recipient to be unmarried because that type of survivor benefit is for dependents of the deceased worker. And, the presumption of dependency would shift from the deceased ex-spouse to the new spouse when and if the recipient remarries.

Best, Jerry