After Approval of Your Disability Claim

A “disability freeze” is a period during which the Social Security Administration (SSA) puts a person’s work and earnings history record on pause.

Whether you receive benefits through Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), or both programs, you may receive an overpayment at some point. If you do, it is important to understand what happens next, including how you should proceed.

Avoiding Overpayments

Whether or not you are able to keep your disability benefits if you move outside of the United States depends on several factors, including:

• What type of benefits you receive
• Where you move to
• How long you reside outside of the country

You will need to understand how your benefits will be affected before you make your move as well as what is expected of you by the Social Security Administration (SSA).

The way your benefits are affected depends on several things, including the type of benefits you receive and where you’re moving. 

In the past, disability benefits were often issued via check each month. In early 2013 though, the Social Security Administration (SSA) began requiring all beneficiaries to receive payments through Electronic Funds Transfer. This decreases the likelihood of a check going missing or being stolen. It does not entirely eliminate the possibility of a missed payment.

There are a number of reasons payments can be missed, though the most common are:

To qualify for Social Security Disability (SSD) benefits, you must provide the Social Security Administration (SSA) with many details, including information on your finances. Any change in your employment situation or your overall financial circumstances can therefore affect your eligibility for SSD or the amount of your monthly benefit payments.

Financial Circumstances and SSD Benefits

What happens to my disability benefits after my trial work period has ended?

After an individual is approved for Social Security Disability benefits, he or she may attempt to return to work. The Social Security Administration (SSA) has provided a trial work period for those receiving disability benefits as incentive to return to work.

How Does Child Support Affect my Disability Benefits?

If you are responsible for paying child support, you may wonder how child support will affect your Social Security Disability payments. Will your benefit checks be garnished? How much will you have to pay? There are a number of questions that disability recipients may run into when the issue of child support arises. Here are answers to the most commonly-asked questions. 

How do I Appeal a Cessation of Disability Benefits?

If the Social Security Administration determines that you are no longer eligible for Social Security Disability benefits (SSDI or SSI), they can issue a "Cessation of Disability Benefits" or, in other words, stop your disability payments.

You have just been approved for Social Security Disability benefits and you finally let out a long sigh of relief. You have probably been through the ordeal of a Social Security Disability appeal and couldn’t be happier that the process is finally over. The question on your mind now is probably whether or not you will continue to receive those Social Security Disability payments indefinitely, or if they will stop at some point in the future. The answer isn’t the same for all Social Security Disability recipients.

When an individual once qualified for Social Security Disability benefits and then is disqualified, such as an individual who decided to return to work and had benefits that ended due to their earning but was then unable to maintain employment due to their disability, the thought of re-applying for Social Security Disability benefits all over again can be very overwhelming. No one wants to endure a long and drawn out application and appeal process a second time around, especially when they know just how grueling it can be since they have been through the experience once before.