Can You Own Property While On Disability

What Happens If I Am On Disability And Sell A Mobile Home Or Other Property

Im already on disability but my trailer house and maintenance have become very difficult for me. Its too much. I lease the lot its on. I was wondering if I should sell it would it affect my disability funds or cause it to cease? I have medical bills and expensive auto repairs that need to be taken care of. Im looking into getting into section 8 living if possible. Can you tell me the result of such a move would cause me in the long run. Id greatly appreciate your input. Thxcap on how much a person can have in countable assetsSSI does not count everything as an assethaving an overpaymentMost popular topics on SSDRC.com

By Melissa Linebaugh, Contributing Author

To qualify for disability benefits through the Supplemental Security Income program, you must meet the Social Security Administrations definition of disabled and meet certain income and asset limits. SSI allows a single person to have only $2,000 in assets to stay eligible for SSI, and a married couple can only have $3,000 in assets. Fortunately, some assets, like the home you live in, will not be counted when determining your eligibility if you meet certain requirements. This is is called the home exclusion.

Ssi Benefits And Owning Property In Pennsylvania

Supplemental Security Income is another story. SSI is a need-based program funded by the general tax fund. It is intended for individuals over 65, the blind, or people with a qualifying disability and limited income and resources.

When the SSA is examining an SSI application, it is looking to determine if the applicant has a qualifying medical impairment and meets the prerequisite income and resource threshold.

More specifically, for a person to receive SSI payments, they must demonstrate that their economic resources do not exceed $2,000 if they are single or $3,000 for a couple. Resources is a broad category that includes the cash and property that could be liquidated to pay for food and shelter. The SSA determines an individuals benefits on a monthly basis, so any increase in resources for a given month could result in a reduction or elimination of SSI benefits for that month.

Spotlight On Getting Ssi Benefits While You Try To Sell Excess Resources

HOW DOES THIS WORK?

While you are trying to sell real property, you can receive SSI benefits for up to 9 months under certain conditions.

While you are trying to sell personal property, you can receive SSI benefits for up to 3 months.

We may pay you even longer if you meet certain conditions.

WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO?

Your conditional benefits cannot begin until after you sign the agreement to sell property form and we accept the agreement. You also have to demonstrate that you are diligently pursuing the sale of the property.

The agreement form is available at your local Social Security office. Ask us for more details.

WHAT HAPPENS AFTER I SELL MY REAL AND/OR PERSONAL PROPERTY?

You will have to pay back some or all of the SSI benefits you received while trying to sell the property.

You may continue to get SSI benefits. Contact your local Social Security office to find out if your SSI benefits will continue after the sale.

THIS INFORMATION IS GENERAL.

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Protecting Ssi Benefits If You Inherit A House

There are some ways to protect your benefits if you were to inherit a home or any other valuable property. The first thing to do is discuss the matter with an experienced Sebastian County disability attorney and your potential benefactor.

One option is to put the home and any other property into a special needs trust. By creating a trust, you will only have access to funds from the trust for specific needs, such as food, shelter, medical care, and education. A trustee would administer the assets and you would not have control or possession of any of the property, including the home. This arrangement will allow you to benefit from the inheritance without affecting your SSI benefits.

Significant Services And Substantial Income Test

The SSA will consider work to be a Substantial Gainful Activity if the recipient receives a substantial amount of income from their business. Substantial income is considered an amount over $1,180 monthly in 2018 or comparable to what the recipient earned before becoming disabled. Because business earnings vary from month to month, the SSA will use an average of the earnings over a period of time.

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Inheriting A Home While Receiving Supplemental Security Income Benefits

Not every disabled individual has earned enough work credits to be eligible for SSDI benefits. The SSA also offers another disability program, SSI, that is designed for disabled adults, disabled children, blind individuals, and people over the age of 65. However, unlike SSDI, SSI is intended for individuals with limited work histories, income, and resources. SSI is a need-based program. Therefore, the SSA will consider your assets, property, and resources when determining eligibility.

When an individual applies for SSI, they must meet a financial resources threshold. Under the current law, to qualify for SSI, your resources and assets must not exceed $2,000 if you are an individual or $3,000 if you are applying as part of a couple.

Then the question is, what are resources according to the SSA? Resources include just about all your property, such as cash, bank accounts, life insurance policies, vehicles, and anything else that could be converted to cash, food, or shelter. However, there are some exclusions available, including your home. According to the SSA, your home is exempt from this eligibility requirement if it serves as your primary residence and it does not generate income.

There are steps you could take to mitigate the legal issues associated with inheriting a home while receiving benefits. It is crucial to speak with our Harris, AR Social Security Disability attorney if you believe you will likely receive an inheritance while on SSI.

Your Home Must Be Your Primary Residence

To exclude your home from counting toward your SSI assets, you must live in the house and claim it as your primary residence. If you own a second home, vacation home, investment property, or any other type of real estate that you do not live in full-time, it will be counted toward your assets, even if it is the only home you own. In other words, if you rent an apartment or live with relatives in New York, but own a home in Florida, your Florida home will count against you. But if you live in the Florida home, you can exclude it.

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Money In The Bank And Ssdi

The SSDI program does not limit how much money you can have in the bank because there are no resource limits as you find with SSI. The fact that you can have as much money in the bank as you wish while on SSDI does not mean that Social Security will not question you about it during the application process or during a periodic continuing disability review of your claim.

If you work while receiving SSDI benefits, the money that you have in a bank account may be looked at by the Social Security Administration to determine whether your monthly income exceeds the substantial gainful activity limit. The monthly limit is $1,350 in 2022 for non-blind individuals and $2,260 for individuals qualifying for benefits as statutorily blind, so it is a good idea to keep records of the source of deposits that you make into your bank account. Speak with an SSDI lawyer at Liner Legal for more information about your bank deposits.

Housing Executive Or Housing Association Home

Most Housing Executive and housing association tenants are allowed to transfer from or exchange their property. If you are already a tenant of the Housing Executive or a housing association and you wish to move, you can apply for a transfer. You will need to fill in a Housing/Transfer application form.

Your landlord will assess your housing needs and place you on the list for a transfer to other accommodation owned by any of the participating landlords within your areas of choice.

Asking for a transfer will not normally be considered where:

• your existing tenancy is less than two years old
• you have arrears of four weeks or more
• the existing property is not in a good state of repair or you own recoverable charges for repairs
• you are guilty of any other serious break of the tenancy conditions
• Home exchange and mobility schemes

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Applying For The Exemption

To receive the exemption an initial application must be filed with your municipalitys assessor on Form RP-459-c. To continue receiving the exemption, Form RP-459-c-Rnw must be filed each year thereafter. Proof of the disability must be provided each year unless proof has previously been submitted showing that the disability is permanent.

Social Security Disability Insurance Basics

SSDI provides benefits to people who have worked consistently and who have paid into Social Security via their payroll taxes. The more you have paid in, up to a certain limit, the more you receive in benefits if you become disabled . Since SSDI is not welfare for the poor, it does not exclude people for circumstances like making too much money or for having too high of net worth.

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Inheriting A House While Receiving Social Security Disability Insurance Benefits

The Social Security Administration oversees two programs that provide monthly benefits to individuals with physical or mental impairments that impact their ability to earn a living. While both of these programs offer individuals suffering from a disability financial assistance, they each approach a persons assets in a different manner.

SSDI is a program designed for disabled workers. It serves as a safety net for those individuals who have been working but suffer a disability before they reach retirement age. A persons eligibility is based on their work history and the number of work credits they have earned over the years. Typically, an individual must earn 40 credits to qualify for benefits. When you apply for SSDI, the SSA will not consider your personal property or other assets, including your home or any inherited property, in determining if you are eligible for benefits.

Therefore, as long as you are not earning above the monthly Social Security income limit of $1,276, as of 2021, your assets should not impact your eligibility to receive benefits. People on SSDI can have a home as a residence and a vacation home. If you inherit an additional property, your benefits should not be impacted. However, if the property is used as a rental property and generates monthly income above the limit, your benefits could be jeopardized. Before making any decisions concerning an inherited house, you should speak with an experienced Arkansas disability attorney.

Other Factors That May Affect Ssi

Social Security will consider income from your spouse. This is called deeming income and applies to spouses earning over $392 per month. If you have children, the threshold increases by $392 for each child. Additionally, Social Security may reduce SSI benefits if you receive free room and board. Social Security can reduce benefits as much as 1/3 for free or reduced room and board. However, if you have a contract promising to repay the value of your room and board, it may be considered a loan and not counted against you.

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Income Limits For Ssi

Generally, Social Security counts income differently than what you might think. Countable income includes wages from working. It also includes money you get from other sources like money from friends or family or unemployment. It also includes free food or shelter. The income limit for SSI is the federal benefit rate . The FBR is $783 per month for an individual and $1,175 for a couple in 2020.

Pennsylvania Disability Lawyers Helping You Understand Your Benefits

There is very little about Social Security Benefits process that could be described as intuitive. Navigating the complex requirements and ensuring you receive the benefits you are entitled to often requires the assistance of an experienced attorney. At Young, Marr, Mallis & Associates, our team of dedicated West Chester Social Security Disability lawyers are available to help you understand how your property will impact your benefits. Call 515-2954 today to discuss your unique situation.

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Can A Family Member Or Special Needs Trust Buy Groceries Or Pay Rent For A Person With Disabilities Without It Impacting Eligibility

BASICALLY NO. The SSI âfood-and-shelterâ standard is one of the most important federal regulations to remember. If a family member purchases food or shelter for a person receiving Medicaid or SSI, this may cause a reduction in public benefits. To understand the SSI âfood-and-shelterâ standard, it is important to understand the specific definitions of the words âfoodâ and âshelterâ under SSI rules:

âFoodâ is a straightforward concept, but under some circumstances the SSA does not consider food to be income. For example, food âprovided during a medical confinement is not income,â nor is food provided in conjunction with a governmental program. Food provided during a temporary absence of greater than 24 hours from home, such as on a trip, is not income. âFood which you or your spouse raise if it is consumed by you or your household.â Dog food, such as for a seeing-eye dog, is not considered income . There also is a $20 monthly general income cash exclusion and a quarterly $60 irregular and infrequent cash exclusion that could apply if a person or a special needs trust paid for a restaurant meal or other food for a person with disabilities.

What Are Social Security Disability Benefits

If you are a disabled individual and unable to hold gainful employment, you may be entitled to SSDI monthly payments based on the amount of money that you have contributed to the Social Security system during the time you were employed. To qualify for disability benefits, the Social Security Administration must determine that you are both completely disabled and entitled to receive disability benefits through social security.

Once you have received your determination, you will also be subject to certain limitations about the amount of money that you can earn. If your earnings exceed these limits, then the Social Security Administration may determine that you are no longer disabled, and cease your benefits due to your work activity.

For some people, their main income may come from what is known as passive earnings which do not count as a work activity.

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Fannie Mae Family Opportunity Mortgage

If a parent, adult child, or another family member would like to buy a home for you, the Fannie Mae Family Opportunity Mortgage program may be a good option for financing that purchase.

This program allows lenders to extend mortgage rates and terms normally reserved for homebuyers who are purchasing a primary residence. Usually, when someone buys a home they do not plan to live in , they need a larger down payment and will pay higher interest rates.

But with a Family Opportunity Mortgage, a relative can buy the home for you at a lower rate and down payment, creating a more affordable path to homeownership for you and your relative.

Can You Own Or Run A Small Business And Collect Social Security Disability Benefits

By Melissa Linebaugh, Contributing Author

If youve paid self-employment taxes for many years, youll be eligible for Social Security disability insurance just as if you worked for an employer who pays FICA taxes on your behalf. But if you still own a business or do some type of work, Social Security will not grant you disability benefits if it considers you to be doing substantial gainful activity .

For wage earners, Social Security uses an earnings cutoff amount, which is $1,310 in 2021, to determine whether youre doing SGA. But for the self-employed, Social Security knows that income is not necessarily a good measure of how much you are working. Self-employment includes freelance work, contract work, or any other work you do for a business you own.

Instead, if you are self-employed, Social Security will assess whether your work is substantial gainful activity by using either the Countable Income Test or the Three Tests. Which test Social Security uses depends on whether your initial application is being evaluated or Social Security is reviewing your work activity after youve been receiving benefits.

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What Are The Resources To Qualify For Ssi

Resources that we count in deciding if you qualify for SSI include real estate, bank accounts, cash, stocks, and bonds. You may be able to get SSI if your resources are worth $2,000 or less. A couple may be able to get SSI if they have resources worth $3,000 or less.

Can you get SSI while trying to sell a resource?

If you are trying to sell real property or other resources that put you over the resource limit, you may be able to get SSI while you are trying to sell them. When you sell the resource, you must pay back the SSI benefits you received for the period in which you were trying to sell the property or other resource.

Can you get SSI benefits if you own a home?

Home Ownership & SSI Benefits. Depending on their circumstances, individuals who receive Supplemental Security Income benefits can own homes without losing benefits.