Usually, for a person to qualify for Social Security Disability Income, or SSDI, they must prove they have a qualifying disability and have a significant history of working outside the home.
However, there are a couple of special cases worth mentioning in which a person can qualify for SSDI without their own work history.
For example, young adults with a disability may be able to receive SSDI. Several conditions apply to this adult-child benefit.
- A person must be disabled.
- A person must be between 18 and 22. In some cases, a person older than 22 may qualify if their disability started before they turned 22.
- The person must have a parent who had enough work history to qualify for benefits.
- That parent must be dead, retired or on disability.
While Supplemental Security Income may also be an option, many times, young adults make too much or have too many resources to qualify for SSI, even if they are disabled.
Surviving spouses who suffer a disability may also need SSDI benefits
There are also many residents of the greater San Diego area who may have spent their working years raising children. Others may have been doing important activities that do not qualify as work for Social Security purposes.
Not every widow or widower qualifies for these benefits. An applicant for these benefits must have a qualifying disability and must be between 50 and 60. Their deceased spouse must have had a work history.
These widow’s or widower’s benefits may be an important part of a surviving spouse’s overall financial plan to make ends meet.
A resident of Southern California who thinks they may qualify for these benefits, or who have had their claim for these benefits denied, may want to consider speaking with an attorney who has experience handling appeals of these often-complicated claims.