How should you prepare for a Continuing Disability Review (CDR) or notice of proposed termination?  It depends on how vulnerable you are to losing.   I received the following question from one of my readers:

I received a letter from SSA saying that they are reviewing my current SSDI benefit and possible to end my benefits due to substantial work between 2004 and now.   I would like to have your advisement how I should handle this and what options I can do to keep my SSDI benefits.   I only have Medicare insurance and living with AIDS.   Also, I am deaf.

My response: Social Security is saying that you engaged in "substantial activity" from 2004 to the present.  "Substantial activity" is a term of art and refers to activity that is work or work like activity.   Substantial activity can be work for pay, volunteer work, school or other similar activites.

In a CDR context, Social Security is most likely looking at your earnings record.  As you know, when you work your employer files copies of all W-2's and 1099's generated on behalf of employees.  If you were working and your employer was withholding taxes as the law requires there is a written record of your earnings.

I have posted a table on this blog setting out what you can earn and still fall below SGA (substantial gainful activity).   Social Security will look at your earnings month by month to calculate how many months you exceeded SGA.  You could, in theory, could be asked to repay SSA for each month that you received earnings over SGA and also collected SSDI. Read more on Approved Claimant Returns to Work – Are there any Defenses to a Continuing Disability Review or Termination Action by SSA…

Sometimes Social Security judges award benefits but require that benefit payments go to a "representative payee."   The judge may do this if the claimant is a child, is legally incompetant,  suffers from mental health or medical problems that would make it difficult for the claimant to manage money or in cases where the claimant requests a payee.

Read more on What are the Responsibilities of a Representative Payee…

Can you SSDI benefits be seized to pay past due child support?  Yes, according to Social Security Ruling 79-4, the Social Security Administration can withhold a percentage of a claimant's benefits in an amount equal to what SSA could withhold to pay delinquent income tax debt.

No interest or penalties may be withheld, and before the first withholding may commence, SSA must give the claimant 60 days notice.

There is a question in my mind as to whether SSI benefits may be seized to pay delinquent child support.  The web site esocialsecurityappeal.com states that a "custodial parent has no right to any of the proceeds from SSI."    Tim Moore, the editor of DisabilitySecrets.com also states that SSI recipients will not have their monthly disability benefits and past due benefits seize.  According to Mr. Moore, the rationale to protect SSI from levy relates to the nature of SSI as a welfare benefit:  "since SSI is essentially a public welfare benefit and does not derive  not from a claimant's earnings record, SSI benefits cannot be taken for other purposes, just as food stamps and AFDC funds, likewise, cannot be seized." Read more on Social Security Disability and Child Support…

I received a question from one of my blog readers asking about date calculations.   I wish I could tell you that understanding Social Security's date calculations and acronyms was easy but I can' t say that.  I will try to offer some explanation about this confusing area.

i got an amended date signed by the judge but the  social ser, office only went back to 2005 when i had the hearing  and not the amended date that i was told they would go too. can you help me undersatnd this date stuff.
–Sandra

My reponse: Sandra, for sake of this blog post, I am going to talk mainly about SSDI benefits.  I'll touch on SSI but I'll make SSI date calculations the subject of a later post.

So that everyone is on the same page, when I speak about SSDI, I am talking about Title II disability – the kind of disability that you receive if you have worked and paid money into the system.  In order to qualify for SSDI, you have to be "insured" and have enough credits.  I am going to assume that Sandra has enough credits and that there is no issue regarding her eligibility for SSDI.

When you apply for SSDI, you will be asked about the "onset date" for your disability.  Since you are contending that you no longer have the capacity to work, I usually find that a good onset date is the day that you left your last full time job.   You can voluntarily change your onset date – sometimes I discover that my client chose a date that was many months after he was able to work and I amend the onset date to an earlier date.   In other cases, I find that my client used an onset date that was two or three years before she stopped working – in that case I might recommend that we amend the onset date forward as it is hard to argue that my client is disabled when she was still working full time. Read more on Am I Getting the Right Amount of Money – Understanding Social Security's Date Calculations…

I am disabled due to Avascular necrosis, fibramyalgia, and arthritis, I have undergone 7 surguries in past 4 years and have seceral more to go. I am an RN, so I made good money before moving to part time work then to being unable to work. My husband makes between 65,000-70,000 a year, we have 2 children ages 2 and 4, will I be able to collect benifits for them?
–Jamie

Jonathan Ginsberg responds: If you are eligible for Title II benefits, then your dependents would be eligible for auxiliary benefits. As you may know, SSA looks at the ten years prior to the onset of your disability to determine eligibility. If you have at least 20 covered quarters during this ten year period, you would be eligible. I have written more about the earnings requirements for Title II here.

You describe "moving to part time work," but you do not say how long that process took or how it impacted your earnings. What you need to find out here is something called your "date last insured" for Title II. Sometimes you can get this information directly from Social Security by phone, or you can request it in writing using a Form 7004 – Request for Statement of Earnings & Benefits, which you can download at my law firm web site.

If you can show SSA that the onset date for your disability is before your date last insured, you are in good shape for Title II.

My concern here has to do with part time work. As I have noted before on this blog, part time work tends to muddy the water when it comes to disability. SSA often sees things in black and white, and some fact finders (adjudicators or judges) take the position that if you can work part time, you could also work full time at a less demanding job.

On the other hand, the medical problems you describe seem serious enough that you ought to be approved for benefits. Hopefully, you will not have any problems qualifying for Title II as your husband's income would eliminate your eligibility for Title XVI SSI.

Read more on Disability Applicant Asks About Auxiliary Benefits for Her Children…

heresone you probably have not had: I have a checking account just for my social security disablity checks for me and my two little ones for direct deposit i was recently had a judgment placed on me from a credit card company and they say that they can attach my checking account even if that is all that goes into that account what do you suggest i do i can not live with out this income?

Read more on Can a Judgment Creditor Garnish the Checking Account Where My Social Security Direct Deposit Goes?…