SOCIAL SECURITY (DISABILITY BENEFITS)

Your Social Security Disability benefits are based on your inability to work or if you are determined , by the Social Security Administration, not to be able to adjust to other work. Your disability must last for at least a year or is expected to result in death.

Your disability benefits may be reduced if you get worker's compensation or certain other government disability benefits. Or your Social Security benefits may reduce your other disability payments.

The sum of all disability payments to you and your family cannot exceed eighty percent if your earnings averaged over a period of time shortly before you became disabled.

When you start collecting Social Security retirement or disability benefits, other members of your family also may be eligible for payments.

Each family member may be eligible for a monthly benefit that is up to fifty percent of your retirement or disability benefit amount. However, there is a limit to the total amount of money that can be paid to a family on Social Security record.

If you are divorced (even if you have remarried), your ex-spouse may qualify for benefits on your record. In some situations, he or she may get benefits even if you are not receiving them.

To qualify, your ex-spouse must have been married to you for at least ten years, be at least sixty two years old, be unmarried, and not be eligible for an equal or higher benefit on his or her own Social Security record, or on some else's Social Security record.

If your ex-spouse receives benefits on your account, it doesn't affect the amount of any benefits payable to your or your other family members.

Contact your local Social Security Administration Office for information regarding filing for disability benefits.

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