Do children born outside of marriage qualify for disability?
You have children, but you were not married to the other parent at the time the children were born. Can they receive disability benefits? What are the social security rules governing children’s disabilities? Can a parent count children born outside of marriage on the parent record for disability?
As it turns out, any of your biological children can qualify. Marriage is not a factor. The child must be a dependent. As the parent filing for disability benefits, you must be listed as the biological mother or father on the child’s birth certificate. The child does not have to live with the parent to qualify for this benefit, and the parent can be an adoptive parent or stepparent.
There Are Two Ways (SSI And SSDI) A Child Can Qualify For Disability Benefits.
First, if you have a disabled child, that child might qualify for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability benefits. The Social Security Administration (SSA) runs the SSI program to benefit children as well as low-income disabled workers.
For children not disabled, the child might qualify if he or she is still a dependent of a parent who meets the criteria to obtain SSA benefits from one of several programs: SSI, retirement benefits, or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI).
For this qualification, the child must have a parent who is currently receiving either retirement or SSDI benefits. Or, the child could have a deceased parent who never collected Social Security benefits but had enough work history at the time of death to qualify.
In all of these cases, the child must be a dependent under age 18. The child can be eligible at 19 years old once that child is still a full-time high school student. If the child is disabled, benefits will be paid if the child’s disability began before the child turned 22 years of age.
When the child is disabled, you’ll need to fill out the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) application. You’ll also have to complete the Child Disability Report (this can only be done online.) The report is designed to collect information about the child’s disability and how it affects their daily function.
Normally, if the child qualifies as a dependent, then benefits are paid through SSDI. This is the case even with disabled children are over age 18; they still qualify on their parents’ work record for children’s disability benefits.
However, sometimes a minor child qualifies for disability benefits on their own due to their own disability rather than being listed as a dependent on their parents’ policy. In this case, due to the child’s own disability, the benefits are awarded to the child through the SSI program.
Finally, in some cases, the child will qualify as a dependent, and therefore is awarded through SSDI. But in some cases, parents not only meet the work criteria for SSDI, but they may also meet additional criteria that make them eligible for SSI as well. If this is the case, the child might be eligible for both and may qualify to receive benefits through both SSDI and SSI.
In Summary, Children Can Qualify In Three Different Ways:
- Disabled children of low-income parents may qualify for SSI. Keep in mind that children approved for SSI disability can also qualify for Medicaid. They can only receive benefits until they turn 18; after that, they might be eligible for the adult SSI benefits but will have to apply as an independent adult.
- Some children do not qualify for SSI because the child is not disabled. Nevertheless, if their parent is currently receiving Social Security Disability Income (SSDI) or retirement benefits, the child can qualify for dependent benefits that are based on their parent’s or parents’ work record.
- Adults who have been disabled since childhood can collect benefits between the ages of 18 and 22.
Applications for children can be complex, so give Clauson Law a call today. We will help you through it.
