Last month, in an historic ruling, the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriages throughout the country, overriding states that had enacted bans.
Because of this, if you collect Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and you are in a same-sex marriage, your husband or wife may be able to collect spousal benefits.
If you would like information about benefits for qualified relatives, you can click here. Same-sex marriages are not expected to be treated differently than heterosexual unions by the Social Security Administration (SSA). The agency began updating its policies in 2013 for same-sex claims and payouts, allowing couples living in states without bans to collect benefits.
After the Supreme Court ruling, the SSA said it would be consulting with the Department of Justice about how to issue instructions to local offices about handling same-sex marriage claims. It is expected that there may be a rush for benefits because people who were not able to collect them before will be testing their eligibility. It has been noted that people should move forward with claims—if the SSA is still debating instructions going forward, there is a possibility that you could collect benefits retroactively from the date when you applied. Therefore, the sooner you apply for benefits, the better.
If you are attempting to collect spousal benefits and you have questions, speak to our Tulsa Social Security attorneys. Social Security disability law can be extremely confusing when determining eligibility for family members and spouses, regardless of the type of marriage involved.
Speaking to an Attorney about a Social Security Eligibility
Again, if you have questions about spousal benefits and same-sex marriage, we suggest contacting our Tulsa Social Security lawyers.
In the video above, attorney Steve Troutman discusses how our lawyers have a passion for helping clients needing to file for Social Security benefits or appeal a disability claim. Disability law is all we do.
Troutman & Troutman, P.C. – Tulsa Social Security disability lawyers
