After a friend sending me link to a page on SS website it appears that the 10 year marriage rule does not apply in ex spouses who are disabled for survivorship. I will know more when I go to SS next week. I just thought I would let anyone else who may be interested in knowing this tidbit of information.

There is a benefit for Disabled Surviving Divorced Spouse if the ex-spouse is at least age 50 and becomes disabled during the prescribed period. The prescribed period is a bit complex, but the general rule is that the ex-spouse must have become disabled within 7 years of the divorce.

If the ex-spouse is not yet 50 and the working spouse is not dead, there are no benefits at all.

If any spouse or ex-spouse chooses to file a claim on a current or former spouse before full retirement age (heading up to age 68) there is a permanent reduction in monthly benefits for applying before full retirement age. Getting it for more years means less per month.

Thank you for the added information. I am over 50 so I should be okay there. I go to Social Security today.

barbara

It would probably be a good to start the disability report online and spend some time putting together a thorough and complete summary of treatment and sources. SSA needs to contact your treating sources to get the records. It is important to provide good addresses and the approximate time period of treatment and general types of treatment. You don't need to document each exam date, but the approximate date you first went to Dr. So and So and the approximate date you last went to him, how often, what he was treating you for and the types of tests.

The more thorough your initial application and disability report, the better chance you have of an initial decision that considers all your problems. Your local office can and will complete a disability report and take your application if you walk in today, but unless you are prepared, there is a good chance that because of limited time, the disability report may be missing some important data. And sure, you can submit it later, but I personally think it is best to submit a good disability report at the outset rather than piecemeal. Employees have limited time to spend reviewing your forms and having everything at the beginning is better.

You might also want to go to socialsecurity.gov and read the Blue Book about your specific medical problem and tailor your disability report to those specific symptoms and test results.

Focus your allegations also on your limitations in terms of being able to work. Don't say "Can't stand a long time". How long is long? Rather, "Can stand/walk for 10 minutes and then need to sit down". Don't say "Can't carry too much". Say "can only lift 5 lbs".

Thank you. I was on disability SS when I got married so my disability is not an issue. The lady at the SS office said that I do not qualify though as I would have to be married to collect it without the 10 year marriage rule. I disputed her and she said she would look it up. She then said she would file a claim but that I would get a rejection letter. I am 53 years old so I should qualify age wise as a disabled person on SS and the 10 year rule should not apply to me since I've been disabled. That was my understaning of it.

barbara

The 10 year marriage duration rule applies to all spouse and surviving spouse claims. Can't get benefits from a guy you married for six months, six years or 9 years and 11 months. Disability has nothing to do with the marriage duration requirement.

http://www.socialsecurity.gov/survivorplan/ifyou3.htm

Looks like I may have misunderstood your question. I thought you meant that you could not get surviving disabled divorced spouse's benefits even though the marriage had lasted 10 years. Guess I should have read and re-read your phrasing.

This stuff gets so complicated sometimes that it is easy to misread a question. Sorry for the bad info. Proves to everyone to never rely on anonymous message boards, even from well-meaning posters.

You will get an official letter from SSA telling you this.

copied and pasted from the link you posted.

provided that your marriage lasted 10 years or more. (You would not have to meet this length-of-marriage rule if you are caring for a child under age 16 or disabled who is getting benefits on the record of your former spouse.

Oh - reading at the site that part about the child I think it means if the child is disabled or under age 16.?? not sure though...
all of that is in the same bracket so I think that is what it is about??
but the second paragraph says something about disability too..

It is not written very clearly though.

[If You're the Worker's Surviving Divorced Spouse

If you are the divorced spouse of a worker who dies, you could get benefits just the same as a widow or widower, provided that your marriage lasted 10 years or more. (You would not have to meet this length-of-marriage rule if you are caring for a child under age 16 or disabled who is getting benefits on the record of your former spouse. The child must be your former spouse's natural or legally adopted child.)

Benefits paid to you as a surviving divorced spouse who meets the age or disability requirement as a widow or widower won't affect the benefit rates for other survivors getting benefits on the worker's record. However, if you are the surviving divorced mother or father who has the worker's child under age 16 or disabled in your care, your benefit will affect the amount of the benefits of others on the worker's record.]

I hope you can get clarification on all of this from the ss office.

So, are you caring for a child who is under age 16 and entitled on the father's record? Or are you caring for a child who is disabled and entitled on the father's record? If not, that sentence doesn't apply to you, but I agree it is a bit difficult to understand.

However, do you really think that someone married for six months at age 22 SHOULD qualify on a former spouse's record 28 years later because they are now disabled? Do you think that is or should be the intent of the legislation? If the marriage duration length was not an issue, that could happen.

The whole idea of anyone getting Social Security benefits as a dependent or survivor is the theory that claimant suffered a financial loss from the death, disability or retirement of the worker. The marriage duration requirement at one time was 20 years. Just because you happened to be married to someone at some point in your life should not necessarily give you lifetime rights to benefits on that person. There has to be some kind of cutoff.

Jo, your right, it could go either way.

Janke, to qualify you have to be over 50 and disabled during or before the marriage or within a month of the divorce. So if a person was 22 and only married for short time they would not qualify. Also, a husband at around that age of 22 would not have a full 10 years of credits required for anyone to collect. If a 22 year old was on disablity at that age her check would be more than what survivorship would bring since they go by the average of work history of the deceased spouse. Social Security will only pay out the greater amount of the two. In other words if a 22 year is disabled and already getting Social Security she would not qualify for suvivorhsip because it would be less than her disability Social Security. Now when talking about how someone at that age can collect SS disability I haven't a clue but know they can. Children can collect SS disability while still living with parents.

Barbara