My spouse and adopted son are disabled. She receives SSDI and he receives both SSDI and SSI as a Disabled Adult Chlid. Her earnings were not enough to eliminate his SSI. This has been the status for years. Recently I became disabled and have won an SSDI claim. My earnings and contribution to the Social Security system have been much greater. We have a meeting set with Social Security and expect our Son's SSI to be eliminated, his SSDI to increase significantly (almost double), etc. because of switching to benefits off of my entitlement. We've been told conflicting information by Social Security telephone reps, regarding if my Wife's benefits might increase due to 'Child in Care' once he is recieving benefits under my entitlement. Is that a possibility? Our son lives nearby, requires some help including my wife being his representative payee, etc. due to his autism.

Kind regards,
David

Hi David. It's possible, but several issues are involved. First off, your wife could only qualify for spousal benefits on your account if 50% of your primary insurance amount (PIA) is more than her PIA. A person's PIA is equal to their Social Security retirement benefit rate if they start drawing their benefits at full retirement age (FRA), or their full Social Security disability (SSDI) benefit rate. Secondly, unless your wife is at least age 62 she'd need to have a child in care in order to potentially qualify for spousal benefits.

It's possible to meet the definition of having a child in care even if your child is a disabled adult child who isn't living with you, Since your wife is acting as representative payee for your son, I assume that he has a mental impairment. In that case the requirements for meeting the child in care requirement can be found in section B of the following section of Social Security's operations manual: https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0301310035.

However, even if your PIA is more than twice as much as your wife's PIA and even if she is considered to have a child in care, she may not be able to actually be paid spousal benefits due to the family maximum benefit (FMB). There are complex calculations involved in that determination (https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0300615768), and there isn't enough information in your question for me to be able to determine whether or not your wife could qualify for and be paid child in care spousal benefits.

Best, Jerry