my husband is ready to retire from metro north and I have been on SSDI for over 20 years. I was told that I can keep my SSDI benefits but cannot have the Tier 1 benefits from my husband. When we were speaking to the person regarding exit, he said if I had SSI only I could keep that and the Tier 1, but being that it is SSDi I cannot have both.Is this correct? If it is not can you guide us please. Thank you

Hi,

I am not an expert on the Railroad Retirement (RR) system, so I really can't answer your question. My understanding is that if you qualify for both Social Security (SS) and RR benefits, you can potentially receive the higher of your SS benefit amount or your tier 1 RR rate, plus any tier 2 RR benefits for which you may qualify. All I can't tell you for sure, though, is that your SSDI benefits won't be affected by any benefits that you receive from the Railroad.

Best, Jerry