SSDI back pay confusion - will my husband get retroactive payment for 5-month waiting period?

The 5 month waiting period is just that - a waiting period with no benefits. You don't get back pay for those months, it sucks but that's how SS does it. The benefits start AFTER the waiting period.

The 5-month waiting period for SSDI is mandatory by law, and unfortunately, no one receives benefits for those months. It starts from your established onset date (EOD). However, your husband should receive back pay from the end of the waiting period until his first payment date. For your daughter, she's entitled to dependent benefits (generally 50% of your husband's PIA up to family maximum), and she should receive back pay for the same period your husband does - starting AFTER the 5-month waiting period through to when payments begin. Make sure you follow up with SSA about your daughter's benefits if you haven't already applied for her. They don't always process these automatically, even if they mentioned it to you.

When I went through this last year, I spent WEEKS trying to reach SSA to clarify backpay questions. Kept hitting busy signals or getting disconnected! Finally found Claimyr (claimyr.com) which got me connected to an actual SSA agent in under 30 minutes. They have a video demo showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU The agent confirmed exactly what I was entitled to and when it would arrive. Saved me tons of stress, especially since my backpay was significant and I needed it for medical bills.

I work with SSDI claimants every day, and there's often confusion about the 5-month waiting period. To be absolutely clear: 1. The 5-month waiting period is required by law for ALL SSDI recipients. No exceptions. 2. If your husband's onset date was July 2024, his waiting period would be July-November, making him eligible for benefits starting December 2024. 3. He should receive back pay from December 2024 to the date payments started (minus the first payment he already received). 4. Your daughter qualifies for auxiliary benefits (up to 50% of your husband's PIA, subject to the family maximum limit). 5. Her back pay should match the same period as your husband's - starting AFTER the waiting period. The back pay should come automatically, but often arrives in separate payments and sometimes weeks apart. If it's been more than 60 days since approval and you haven't received the back pay, I recommend contacting SSA.

I HATE the 5 month waiting period!!!! My husband had stage 4 cancer and we had to wait 5 months while he was dying!!! Then they had the nerve to tell me that if he died before the 5 months was up we wouldn't get ANY of his SSDI, only survivor benefits!!! THE SYSTEM IS RIGGED AGAINST US!!!!

my husband got ssdi last year and the back pay came about 3 weeks after his first regular payment. dont worry it will come but ssa is soooo slow with everything!

One thing nobody mentioned - if your husband was approved for SSDI after applying more than 5 months ago, the waiting period might have already been satisfied before approval. It runs concurrently with the application process. For example, if he applied in August 2024 with an onset date of July 2024, and wasn't approved until February 2025, the 5-month waiting period (July-November) would already be complete at approval time. Regarding your daughter, children's benefits should start the same month as the parent's benefits. Make sure they have her Social Security number on file. Sometimes they process children's benefits separately, which can delay things.

Just to clarify based on what you've shared: - Onset date: July 2024 - Waiting period: July, August, September, October, November 2024 - First month eligible: December 2024 - First payment received: About 10 days ago (mid-April 2025) You should receive backpay for December 2024 through March 2025, which is 4 months of benefits. This assumes the April payment you received was for April 2025. For your daughter, she should receive the same 4 months of backpay. Children's benefits are usually about 50% of the disabled parent's benefit, but all benefits are subject to the family maximum benefit (FMB), which caps the total amount one family can receive.

My situation almost identical to yours!!! I got SSDI approval in January, first payment in February, then waited and waited for backpay. Called SSA multiple times and always got different answers! The backpay finally showed up in my account with NO NOTICE about 6 weeks after first payment. For my son it took another 3 weeks after that. So frustrating but it does come eventually.

One other important thing to mention: backpay sometimes comes in installments if it exceeds certain amounts. However, in your case with only a few months of backpay, it should come as a single payment. Just be aware that SSDI backpay deposits don't always have clear identifiers on bank statements - sometimes they just show as "US TREASURY" deposit without specifically saying "SSDI backpay."