Millions of people receive social security benefits in the United States each year. Social Security Disability Insurance are federal disability benefits administered by the Social Security Administration (SSA), which provide assistance to people with disabilities. To qualify for SSDI benefits, an individual must have been employed in a job covered by social security and have a medical condition that meets the SSA definition of disability. Social security only pays for total disability. Individuals with partial or short-term disability are ineligible to receive SSDI benefits. A person meets the definition of disability if they:

• Are unable to work the same as before the medical condition;
• Cannot adjust to other work because of the medical condition; and
• Has a disability that has lasted or is expected to last at least one year or result in death.

Once the SSA deems an applicant eligible to receive SSDI benefits, certain members of the recipient’s family may also receive benefits payments. The family members who are eligible include:

• A spouse who is age 62 or older;
• A spouse of any age who cares for the recipient child who is less than 16 years old or disabled;
• The recipient’s unmarried child who is less than 18 years old or under the age of nineteen if still in high school. Child includes adopted child and may include stepchild or grandchild;
• The recipient’s unmarried child who is 18 years old or older with a disability that began before the age of twenty-two.

Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) provides financial assistance to individuals with disabilities who worked the requisite number of years in jobs covered by social security. To be eligible for SSDI, the applicant must be unable to work substantially in gainful employment. Federal laws set the maximum amount of time people can earn before they are considered gainfully employed. If a person earns at or above the maximum amount, they are engaging in substantial gainful activity and are ineligible for SSDI benefits.

After a person begins receiving SSDI benefits, however, they may be able to work and still remain eligible to receive disability payments. The trial work period is a time period in which benefits recipients can test their ability to work. During the trial period, the individual continues to receive their full SSDI benefits. They do not have a limit on how much they earn during the trial work period as long as they report the work and still have the disability. A trial work month is any month with over $910 in earnings. If the worker is self-employment, to constitute a trial work month, a person must earn more than $910 after business expenses or work more than eighty hours in a month. The trial work period ends when the benefits recipient has used nine months total in a 60-month period.

Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) payments are financial assistance to eligible individuals who have disabilities. For some people, SSDI is major source of income. Other recipients may receive SSID benefits as their only financial means. Beginning to receive the benefits payments as soon as possible is important. When you are approved for SSDI benefits, you may still have to wait for approval.

SSDI benefits do not begin until the sixth full month of disability. The clock does not begin until the first full month after the Social Security Administration decides that the recipient’s disability began. The date of the recipient’s disability is called the onset date of disability. Factors that determine the onset date include, the date the recipient alleges, work history, and medical documentation and evidence. Once the date is determined and the sixth full month has passed, you will receive the benefits payments, which are based on your average lifetime earnings before the disability began.

Individuals may be eligible for Social Security Disability Insurance benefits if they are unable to work and have medical condition that is defined by the Social Security Administration as a disability. Once an applicant is approved for SSDI benefits, the benefits will begin after the sixth full month of the disability. Although, the recipient had to show that they were unable to work in order to be eligible for SSDI benefits, they may be able to work after the benefits begin. However, the recipient must still have the disability. The trial work period is a cumulative nine-month period that allows the recipient to see if they can return to work. After the recipient has completed a cumulative nine months of working or if they are not in the program, they may lose their SSID benefits if they engage in substantial gainful employment.

A person receiving SSDI benefits may also loss their benefits if their health improves to a point where they are no longer disabled or are able to return to work. Criminal issues such as warrants, convictions, parole or probation may also cause a recipient to lose their benefits temporarily or permanently. Warrants for felonies of fleeing prosecution, custody or arrest will stop benefits payments due in the months the person has an outstanding warrant. The individual also cannot receive benefits in any month that they are in violation of their parole or probation.