28 Sep How Do Social Security Disability Benefits Impact Child Support?
If you are receiving child-support payments from a former spouse who has become unable to work and is receiving Social Security Disability (SSD) benefits, your child is eligible for SSD Dependency Benefits, which will affect how much you will receive from your former spouse in direct child support.
Social Security Disability benefits are meant to substitute for the money you would earn if you weren’t on disability. If you have a child to support while you are on SSD, the SSD Dependency Benefits will be credited against your child support obligation during the period you are unable to work and if you are in arrears.
work and only able to pay half of a $30,000 child support obligation, and $20,000 in SSD Dependency Benefits were paid, then courts would allow $15,000 of those benefits to be applied to your obligation. The remaining $5,000 could be applied prospectively to future payments, absent the parent receiving payment stating it would be unfair to do so. This is fair, as the SSD Dependency Benefits belong to the child and your child should not be penalized if your spouse is unable to work.
For more information on SSD Dependency Benefits and how they affect your child support payments, please contact the Law Offices of Jeffrey M. Bloom using the form at the top of the page or call (855) 208-3650 today to schedule a consultation. Mr. Bloom serves clients in West New York, and throughout Hudson County and Bergen County, New Jersey.