How will my adult disabled son's benefits change when my husband claims Social Security at 62?

When your husband claims his retirement benefits, it could potentially affect your son's SSI. SSI is needs-based, so if your son lives with you, part of your husband's income could be "deemed" available to your son, potentially reducing his SSI payment. However, this depends on your total household situation. The good news is that your son's Medicaid should continue even if his SSI is reduced, through special provisions for disabled individuals. Look into your state's 1619(b) Medicaid continuation program. You filing or not filing doesn't directly impact your son's benefits at this point since you're not eligible yet.

My brother with downs went thru this when my dad retired. It's super confusing!!! They didnt tell us anything until his check was suddenly $200 less one month. Then we had to go to the SSA office and wait for HOURS. Make sure u keep all the paperwork they send!!

This situation requires careful planning. Since your son lives separately in supported living, the deeming rules are different than if he lived in your household. The critical factors are: 1. Whether you provide more than 50% of his support 2. If your son's SSI is standard or reduced already 3. Your husband's projected benefit amount You should schedule an appointment with SSA specifically to discuss this transition. They can run calculations based on your exact situation. Also, look into whether your son might qualify for Disabled Adult Child benefits (DAC, sometimes called CDB) on your husband's record, which might actually be higher than SSI in some cases.

u need to check if ur son qualifies for SSDI as a disabled adult child (DAC) instead of SSI. My daughter qualified for this when I retired and it was MUCH better than SSI! No asset limits and Medicare instead of medicaid after 2 years. But he needs to have been disabled before 22.

The SSA is IMPOSSIBLE to get clear answers from!!! I've been trying for MONTHS to sort out my daughter's benefits when I retired. Every rep tells you something different. My daughter almost lost her group home placement because of the payment gaps when they were recalculating everything. The system is BROKEN!!!!

When my wife and I faced this with our autistic son (34), we requested something called a "Benefits Planning Query" (BPQY) from Social Security. It's a free report that shows all the benefits he was eligible for and how changes to our situation might affect him. This helped us understand the Disabled Adult Child benefit option which ended up being better than SSI. Just need to fill out an SSA-3288 consent form to request it.

Yes, our son did switch from SSI to DAC benefits when I took my retirement benefits. His monthly payment increased by about $350. He got Medicare after 24 months, but we were able to keep his Medicaid as secondary insurance through our state's working disabled program, even though he only works very part-time. The important thing is to get everything in writing - verbal advice from SSA can sometimes be inconsistent.

my cousin had to pay back $5000 cuz SSA said they overpaid when his dad retired!!! make sure ur keeping track of everything!

I'm so grateful for all this information! I had no idea about the Disabled Adult Child benefits possibility, and I'll definitely be looking into that BPQY report. I'm going to try calling SSA tomorrow to set up an appointment specifically about this transition. My husband is still considering whether to delay his benefits after hearing about these potential complications. Thank you all for sharing your experiences!

One last thing to consider: If your husband can financially manage without taking benefits at 62, delaying until his Full Retirement Age (66-67 depending on birth year) would not only increase his own benefit by about 30%, but would also increase any potential DAC benefit your son might receive. This is something to factor into your decision if your son qualifies for DAC benefits.