Millennial Money: Navigating the SSI ‘marriage penalty’

Jennifer Updike and Lewis Fredette, of Auburn, New York, got engaged in December 2023. The couple, who are both on the autism spectrum, look forward to moving in together soon and tying the knot in a religious ceremony.

Though the Social Security Administration, also called the SSA, disincentivizes low-income and disabled couples from getting married, there are ways to tie the knot while minimizing losses.“SSI is a needs-based program; It’s very similar to welfare,” says Steven R. Dolson, an attorney specializing in Social Security disability benefits at The Law Offices of Steven R. Dolson PLLC in Syracuse, New York.

First, getting approved for SSI benefits automatically makes you eligible for Medicaid, the national public health care program. “If you exceed the resource or income limits, that can knock you off your insurance,” Dolson says. “This can have a devastating effect on somebody who’s on SSI.” The SSA also allows exemptions of “property essential to self-support,” which is property, equipment and supplies — including buildings and vehicles — necessary for a trade, business or job. For people with disabilities, this also includes transportation services, medical devices, service animals and mobility aids.

“ woefully outdated income and asset rules make it virtually impossible for people with disabilities to work, to save, or to marry,” U.S. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said in a Jay Paul/ReutersThe MAGA-friendly federal judge who keeps siding with Donald Trump in his Mar-a-Lago classified records case has forced prosecutors to make a stark choice: allow jurors to see a huge trove of national secrets or let him go.U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon’s ultimatum Monday night came as a surprise twist in what could have been a simple order; one merely asking federal prosecutors and Trump’s lawyers for proposed jury instructions at the upcoming trial.

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