Types of Beneficiaries

There are different types of Social Security Beneficiaries. The different types include:

• Retired and disabled workers
• Spouses and children of retired, disabled, and deceased workers
• Parents of deceased workers
• Young, aged, and disabled widows or widowers of deceased workers

The child beneficiaries who qualify for benefits are categorized as:

• Minors younger than eighteen
• Adults who have been disabled before their 22^nd birthday
• High school students younger than nineteen

Requirements to qualify for Social Security

Retired workers who qualify for benefits worked in insured employment and are 62 years or older. Qualifying spouses care for children younger than sixteen, care for disabled children, are 62 or older, and/or have divorced the retiree after at least a decade of marriage. Qualifying young widow(er)s care for children younger than sixteen or disabled children, and qualifying aged widow(er)s are sixty or older. Qualifying disabled widow(er)s who qualify are disabled, fifty or older, and required to apply for aged widow(er) benefits upon their 65^th birthday. Parents, dependent on deceased workers and 62 or older, qualify. Qualifying disabled workers worked in insured employment before their disability; qualifying spouses care for children younger than sixteen, care for disabled children, are 62 or older, and have divorced the disabled worker after at least a decade of marriage.

In addition, individuals are required to be insured under Social Security before receiving retirement, survivor, and/or disability benefits. The SSA determines qualification primarily based on quarters of coverage (QCs). Potential beneficiaries must have at least one QC for every calendar year after their 21^st birthday and the earliest year before their 62^nd birthday, disability, or death in order to be fully insured. Similarly, they are permanently insured when they:

• Have forty QCs
• Were born in 1949 and worked in insured employment from 1971 to 1977
• Turned 21 in 1970
• Became fully insured after six QCs
• Retained their full insurance if they were to die or gain a disability before 2000

Potential beneficiaries do not qualify for fully insured status just because they were born before 1930, so they are required to have at least one QC for every calendar year since 1950. Moreover, potential beneficiaries gain disability-insured status when they have twenty or more QCs in the last decade and are fully insured. They also do not gain disability-insured status if they are younger than 31 or fall under a different category.

If you believe that your loved one collecting Social Security Disability benefits in Philadelphia may need the help of a representative payee, you should talk to a Philadelphia SSD lawyer at Larry Pitt & Associates. To learn more, please contact us to schedule an appointment at any of our office locations serving Berks, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia Counties.