Ask Larry

My son became disabled at age 19 and filed for benefits on my husband's Social Security, as he was also disabled. My so is an adult now and gets just a little over $800 a month between his SSDI and SSI. I will soon be retiring and I was wondering if my son could switch over to receive half of my monthly benefit. Is that a possibility? My husband is now receiving regular monthly benefits now bc he is over 65.

Hi. Yes, if your son has been continuously disabled since before he reached age 22 then he should qualify for disabled adult child's (DAC) benefits on your account when you start drawing your benefits. When a child or DAC is eligible for benefits on more than one parent's account, they can be paid on whichever account results in the highest DAC rate. That's normally on the parent's record with the highest primary insurance amount (PIA), or full retirement age rate.

Unreduced DAC benefits are paid at a rate of 50% of a living parent's PIA, or 75% of a deceased parent's PIA. So, if your PIA is higher than your husband's PIA, then it sounds like your son should be able to collect higher DAC benefits on your record when you apply for your benefits. His benefit rate would then be equal to 50% of your PIA provided that he is the only person entitled to auxiliary benefits on your account.

By the way, if your son receives Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits in addition to his DAC benefits, those benefits would be offset dollar for dollar by any increase in his DAC benefit rate. That could cause his SSI benefits to stop altogether depending on the amount of his DAC benefit.

You may want to consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to fully analyze the options available to you in order to determine your best strategy for maximizing benefits for you and your son.

Best, Jerry