In a bit of a bind with SSDI

General
1

Hey all,

This year I tried working, and almost predictably, failed due to insufficient hours. Now, I was under the impression that I had a 9 month grace period with my SSDI income, and carried on.

Long story short, we left town, headed west, and were planning on making a drastic cut in our living expenses by living in an RV at national parks (1/2 price with Disability) or BLM lands 2 weeks a stay, until we could get our financial house in order.

It was working, we had over $4,000 at one point, more than we'd had in years, largely because our expenses were nil, and we'd sold our car for $2,500.

We were in the Grand Canyon when I collapsed and hit my head. I got a rather nasty concussion because my head landed on a boulder, bounced twice before sliding off the boulder onto the gravel.

3 days later is really the first memories I have after that, it was my birthday at the hospital in Phoenix. I had apparently had 2 helicopter rides, first to Flagstaff and 2nd to Phoenix, though I don't remember them much at all.

That day, my birthday, in the hospital, was when the SSA stopped my disability benefit.


Their story is that my 9 month work trial period ended in October of 2007, and that since I made over $1,000 in March, my benefits were stopped (2 weeks notice BTW). They have a 36 month clock that starts once your grace period is used up, and if you earn over $1,000 36 months after your grace period is used up, you're dropped.



That derailed our plans big time, we wound up jumping over to Porstmouth, Virginia to stay with my uncle for a month, and then my in-laws in Rockford, IL for a month, before my mother arranged for my brother to buy a house we could rent from him in Rockford.

I finally started receiving temporary payments in January after 4 months of $0 income. I did odd-jobs, sold as much of value as I could on eBay, scraped together $800, just enough to keep gas in the tank and food in our stomachs. Gas in the tank of the van (we had only borrowed an RV from my cousin as a trial), was necessary so my wife could go out and find temporary work, which she did and earned a total of $1,000 over the holidays.




So here's the crazy part, SSA's story is that my 9-month work trial period ended in October of 2007.

My story is that I never received SSDI until October 2009, when I had to leave my position as photo lab manager due to increasing health issues.

Before that, from 2003 to 2007, I was receiving benefits as a dependent on my father's Social Security Retirement Income, as he retired in 2003, and I was a disabled dependent.

I worked from October to December 2006 as a quality control supervisor, and from March 2007 to October 2009 as a photo lab manager.

I still have the letter stating that my benefits stopped in August of 2007 because I was married, and no longer a dependent of my father.


Still, SSA has records showing that I qualified for SSDI on my own merit starting in 2005, and that was discontinued after working from Nov 06 to October 07, omitting Jan and Feb.


SSA says I received $726/mo under my father, and $352/mo under my own SSDI.

I just found my tax records from 2007, my SSA-1099, and it quite clearly shows only the former, not the latter.


Here's the crazy part, my mother was receiving $350/mo at that time, and her story is that she received half of what I was because of the family maximum limited the amount she could receive.





So, long-winded story short, either I qualified for disability in 2005 but my parents received the funds since I was their dependent, or SSA is completely mistaken and nobody received those funds, making the whole idea of my 9 month grace period being used up moot.


My father has since passed away, my mother has an incredibly hard time understanding the basic concepts of SSDI, SSRI, let alone the amount of numbers and math floating around.


What the heck am I supposed to do?

I'm supposed to be getting 1/2 my benefit amount for my daughter's expenses, but that's not coming through either. And we're still out 4 months of income.

My wife's job was seasonal, we cleared this month by $62 before my latest deposit came in, which is only $300 more than our rent + food.

Anyone got any bright ideas?

Thanks,
Dan O.

2

It sounds like you need to hire an advocate or a lawyer. Unfortunately, the Social Security Administration is a bureaucracy that you need assistance in navigating or they will not even consider your case. Most advocates and attorneys will work on a contingency basis -- if you win, they are entitled to a certain portion of the claim. You have to work that out -- but there are laws as to how much they can charge you for their services.

As far as getting by on a day to day basis, many communities provide food banks and emergency funds for basics like gas or electricity. You can also call United Way for help --- 211. Good luck.

3

One word....contact

http://www.allsup.com/

4

Well, it would seem that apparently as a disabled dependent I was receiving disability benefits and therefore the grace period was used up when they said, despite them being a part of my father's SSRI income.

Apparently, my parents were receiving the disability benefits that I qualified for on my own income which started later, but I've never seen them. I don't know how to best handle this, my mother isn't open to discussing the topic, she has a hard time understanding the topic, and this could potentially land her in a lot of hot-water if I shed light on it to 3rd parties, as she was receiving benefits in my name while I was not living there for nearly a year.

Meanwhile, my mother loves to lay on the guilt-trip of how adversely my share of my father's SSRI benefits lowered hers because of the family maximum, she feels she got stuck with only 1/2 of what she would have otherwise received, and feels it necessary to repeatedly remind me of how much she "sacrificed" for me by this.

I called Allsup, but because this deals with a reinstatement of benifets, they don't provide any services for that. So right now I'm hunting down a local lawyer who works with SSDI.

Meanwhile my provisional benefits have been stopped with no notice, as have my food stamps, and the SSA office can't seem to figure out how to get an "expedited" reinstatement to go anywhere in the past 6 months after around 10 trips to discuss the matter with them.

Apparently, they have to have the paperwork from Portsmouth, VA, but Portsmouth VA isn't responding to their requests for paperwork. So, my local office simply throws their hands in the air saying that they called them and requested the paperwork but they haven't heard anything back.

/pissed.

Dan O.

5

Hello,

Get in touch with your Congressman's and Representatives offices. They can help you.

R