SSI

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Me and my parents have been trying to got SSI for me for about two years now. I'll make this short and say due to problems from autism I have a hard time working more then four to five hours at a time without having 'issues'. I do however want to be able to be somewhat dependent and have wanted to move into an apartment literally right behind our house, this also means I can get the help I will without a doubt need to become dependent from my parents and they'll be close if I ever need them. I will also keep working part time since the SSI won't be enough to fully live off. They've been giving us the good ol run around for two years now but I recently got a letter saying something along these lines,

Additional information is needed in regards to your supplemental social security income application for benefits to be payable.

Does this mean I've been accepted?

I'm worried, I'm not very good at talking on a phone and I'm not sure what sort of information they need so I don't know what info I should have on me before I call them. I'm even more worried if I don't get excepted, if I don't I fear I'll never be able to move out and will be stuck with my parents until they die.

Its really disheartening to hear a woman say she got SSI for back pains she had JUST while she was pregnant three years ago while I'm being told I'm not disabled enough even though I have genuine problems that will never go away. Things that actually prevent me from being able to make an income that I can actually live off of.

If it doesn't say you've been accepted, they're still processing you. They will probably want to ask more questions about your functional level.

If you're still living with your parents, that could be a part of why the process is taking so long. I was accepted in two months but I was homeless at the time, which makes a big impression on government authorities. The caseworkers may be looking at your case and thinking, "well, the applicant appears not to be functional but they are living with their parents and still young so we'll let the parents take care of them for now." Not that I'm guaranteeing that's what they're saying, but it's a strong possibility.

One thing to remember: when you do get awarded SSI, you will get a huge check for those two years that you were getting the runaround. Plan ahead and be wise about what you do with it. You will have to do something with it within a couple of months because after that time if you have more than about a thousand dollars on you, they will take away some of your SSI. Yeah, I know it's stupid.

If the lump sum is large enough, consider putting a down payment on a house that is cheap enough such that your SSI payments will be able to cover the remaining mortgage payments. It's a very sound investment if you're expecting to spend the rest of your life on disability. Owning your own house can be a headache but it can also be a blessing for someone on a fixed income.

Another option is to spend the money buying nice things that will not be counted as official assets on the paperwork so that you don't lose benefits for owning them.

Another option is to give the money to your parents and have them get a lawyer to set up a small investment trust that gives you regular payments that are below the amount of money at which SSI starts taking away some of your benefits.

Just a few ideas. Think it through, because if you've been on hold for a couple of years, you can expect to get a check for around $14K when they finally accept you. SSI payments will go back to the date at which you first applied and 24 months of $600/month is over fourteen thousand dollars. Definitely an amount worth thinking about.

And don't let your application lapse because if it does and you have to re-apply, it re-sets that date and you will no longer be owed that money.

You need to get a lawyer. You are either going to get the run around indefinitely or get hosed if you don't. The lawyers are paid for by SSI out of your back pay (up to something like $5300) if you win and you owe them nothing if you lose. If you applied to social security 2 years ago you have more than enough back pay to pay for a lawyer.

What sort of things are counted as official assets?

Cars (you're allowed one so long as the blue book value isn't above a certain limit. I'd have to look up the exact limit, though. Extra cars count as part of your assets.)
Homes (again, you're allowed one of moderate value. And, again, I'd have to look for the exact numbers. More than one home is an asset.)
Other real property (land, buildings, etc.)
Jewelry (the real stuff like diamonds, not costume jewelry)
Gold
Bonds
Certificates of Deposit

Those are the main ones. Let me see if I can pull up a form to see if I've missed anything.

Oh yeah, cash value in life insurance policies.

The total of all your assets and "liquid" cash on hand cannot exceed $2000. If you have more than $2000 assets you can't get on disability in the first place and if you are on disability and accumulate $2000 worth of assets, you will lose some or all of your disability.

When I get my student loan money, I have more than the limit in my bank account, but it's okay so long as it's below $2000 within two months. And social security doesn't count student loans as "income" so it doesn't affect my benefits so long as I don't keep the cash longer than two months.

Among the "nice stuff" that SSI doesn't officially count as assets are things like:
nice clothes
electronic musical instruments
computers
nice jewelry that is not gold, diamonds, emeralds, etc. For example, silver and amethyst jewelry is generally not coutned as an asset
Any nice home items like good couches, lamps, dishes, etc.
stereos and CD collections
video games

Also, though it might technically be against the rules, I've never seen "gift certificates" listed on the forms as an asset so you could, for example, buy several gift certificates at your favorite grocery store to ensure a good future food supply and it would no longer count as "real money" or assets for disability purposes. (If you do this, be careful to see if the gift certificates have an expiration date earlier than you would expect to be spending them.) I suspect it doesn't count as assets because once you've converted the money to the gift certificates, it's no longer liquid cash, it's "food" and food is never considered on the list of assets.

I'm going through this process myself. I live with a roomate and have nothing of considerable value and when they went down the list at the interview I never heard of 98% of the stuff they were listing off before, so I know I didn't have it. haha. But thanks for sharing the info because you actually answered a TON of questions I had Sparrowrose. Hope everything works out for you CTCD. I know it's frustrating waiting and all that stuff. I'm more in the boat of what sparrow was in only one step away from being on the street.

I've been through the process a few times now. I'm back to the point of having my lawyer assemble my files for submission to the judge. This will be my 2nd time in front of the judge. The first time they focused almost exclusively on my physical problems, which aren't enough to keep me from working. I also didn't have witnesses on my behalf, this time I'll at least have my mother, who has experience testifying in court on the mental capability of others.

I haven't had any issues with assets , but then I don't have any. Lawyer fee is 25% or $6800, which ever is less (used to be $5300, but was increased last year and will depend on the initial application filing date). Payment is made retro-actively to the filing date, and if larger than a certain value (I forget what it is, but I think changes yearly) it will be made in 3 equal payments, 6 months apart. Also if you are filing through a state support service and receive cash from them, they are entitled to reclaim the amount they have issued you. Monthly payment varies by state, as low as $450-ish to as high as $800-something. No where is it enough cash to live totally independent. Also, state benefits, such as food stamps, can be reduced because SSI counts as income. However you will still qualify you for other benefits that might be available in your area, like housing and energy assistance.

Be prepared. If and when you are awarded, it will never be close to what you expected to receive. Or so I've been told. Also they have been working very hard to decrease the length of time it takes to get approval, yet it will still take upwards of 2 years. I think my first trip through was 3½ years for final denial but this time I'm only 9 months and will probably have a court date set soon.

Depends. I got my SSI in two months.
But I was also homeless and pregnant at the time, both mitigating factors.

Well... if you get approval right off the bat, two months sounds right. Congrats. The thing with SSI is you have to show that you are unable to work and will be unlikely to work again, so I'm not sure how being homeless and pregnant helped you get approval, but it probably helped speed-wise.

If you are have to fight and get a lawyer and go to court... then you are looking at years.

I also had a string of over 80 jobs, none of which had lasted longer than two months, a past history of having become homeless four previous times, a stay in a mental institution, a string of therapists going back to age five, several emergency room visits due to bad responses to anti-depressants, more than one psychiatrist certifying that I had tried all the anti-depressants over the years and was unable to take any of them without serious side-effects, and a flat affect. My last job attempt had been just a couple of weeks before filing and I was working that job while being homeless (an indication that I wasn't malingering, I was making heroic efforts to work.) On top of all that, they wanted to talk to a family member so I gave them my mother who is a Psy.D (psychologist) and was able to discuss my life with the disability doctor on a professional level in professional language.

I suspect I was a pretty open-and-shut case as far as an example of someone who just can't work.

I pray that things have gotten better for me. I graduate in three years and if I still can't work I will give up on life because I'm not going to spend the rest of my days on an SSI pittance and die in some dismal state nursing facility. This is my last chance to have a life.

I get it, but I was first denied, and I had to get a lawyer whose focus is on SSI appeals, and the appeal was successful. It was a good thing my parents never threw any old records out as they had a stack of stuff showing that I am disabled, and they even got my old therapists to send something to that lawyer to help her with the appeal.

Even if I didn't have my job, I'm still getting less than the original amount because of budget cuts that hit during the recession. I had been laid off because of the recession, and the only job I could find and get was one on fast food because nobody else was hiring. In a way, being underemployed and being lucky to work 6 hours a week is a good thing because it shows that I need the SSI. I keep my pay stubs because they inevitably screw up and fail to record income for a month, so I have to take the time to go to the office and show them the actual pay stubs.