Hi. I understand a spouse/ex spouse can be eligible for survivor benefits at 50 if they are disabled, and have not worked. Is there a way to expedite the disability application (get approved for disability), or will the determination decision take the 9-12 months like most applications do? Do they consider that there is no income in the household at the time? Thanks so much.

Hi,

In most cases the answer is no. There are a few categories of cases, such as terminal illnesses, that can qualify for expedited handling, but most claims are just processed more or less in the order they are received. Dire need can be taken into account, though, so it couldn't hurt to explain your circumstances to Social Security when you apply. Also, if a person is already receiving some type of disability benefit from Social Security and they become eligible for another type of disability benefit, the earlier determination can often be adopted without requiring a new medical determination.

Some cases take longer than others to gather the medical information needed to make a determination, but the average length of time to reach an initial disability determination is 3 to 5 months (https://www.ssa.gov/disability/Documents/Factsheet-AD.pdf). Claims for disabled widow's benefits or surviving divorced spousal benefits take roughly the same amount of processing time as does a claim for Social Security disability (SSDI) benefits.

Best, Jerry