Social Security – What You Need to Know about Benefits, Changes, Appeals and Overpayments
To qualify for Social Security benefits, you must have worked a certain number of years. Your eligibility is measured in credits. If you were born after 1929, you must accumulate forty credits or work for ten years to qualify. You earn one credit for each quarter of the year you work.
You can begin to receive benefits as early as age 62, but you will need to carefully weigh this decision—up to a certain point, the longer you wait to receive benefits, the higher your payments will be once you begin to receive them. When you do decide you want to start receiving benefits, you should contact your local Social Security office and ask them which month is best for you to begin receiving benefits. Depending on which month you begin, you may get a higher payment because you may have earned an additional work credit. Full retirement age is 65 for those born before 1938 and up to age 67 for those born after 1960.
If your spouse is receiving social security benefits and you are over age 62, you may be eligible to receive benefits as well. The amount is about half of what the spouse receives.
To apply for benefits, you will need the following documents:
- your birth certificate;
- your social security number;
- military discharge papers if you were in the service;
- your spouse’s birth certificate and Social Security number if he or she is also applying; and,
- your bank account number and name of your bank, so payments can be deposited.
When you apply, you must either bring original documents or send certified copies. You can find out what your monthly benefit amount would be through a yearly summary explaining your benefits. You can sign up to receive this summary automatically by mail each year. Check with your local office for sign-up information listed in the government pages of your phone book or online at www.ssa.gov.
Divorce
A divorced spouse can receive payments based on the former spouse if the marriage lasted at least ten years. You can begin to receive benefits when you are age 62, but only if you have not remarried. You may get benefits even if your former spouse has not yet retired if you have been divorced for at least two years, but your former spouse must have enough credits to retire.
Changes
When you are receiving benefits, you have the responsibility to notify Social Security of certain changes, including:
- address or phone number;
- bank account;
- amount of earned income;
- if you become unable to manage funds (Social Security has a program called representative payee in which your benefits are sent to the relative or friend who is managing your funds for you);
- if you begin to receive a pension;
- if you get married; ? if you get divorced;
- if you change your name; or,
- if you travel for a long period of time to another country.
Appeals
It is important to remember that you have the right to appeal all decisions made by Social Security. You can read about the appeals process at www.ssa.gov/pubs/10041.html. You have the right to be represented by an attorney at any stage in the process.
The appeals process has four stages.
Step 1: Reconsideration. You have sixty days to submit a form (which your local representative will help you complete) asking that your benefits be reconsidered. If you were already receiving benefits and benefits are denied, you have ten days.
Step 2: Administrative hearing. If you are not happy with the results of the reconsideration, you have sixty days from the date you received denial of the reconsideration to apply to have your case heard by an administrative law judge. Step 3: Appeals Council. You have sixty days from the date you receive the ALJ determination to appeal to the Appeals Council. Step 4: Federal Court. If the Appeals Council will not take your case, you can appeal to a federal court and you will need an attorney to do so.
If you should win an appeal, you will be entitled to receive any lost benefits from the date of denial.
Overpayments
Overpayments are unfortunately a problem that does happen. If the Social Security Administration makes a mistake and pays you more than you are entitled to, you do have to pay it back, or it will be withheld from a future payment. You have the right to appeal an overpayment mistake. Go to your local office and tell them you want to request reconsideration of the overpayment.
Representative Payee Should you ever become unable to manage your own affairs, Social Security can appoint someone else to be in charge of handling your payments on your behalf. This can be a family member, friend, or even a nursing home. If one is appointed for you, you must be notified in writing first. You can challenge this by an appeal (contact your local office for details).