Social Security: Can I lose the benefit if I get married? For what reasons?
By changing your marital status you may lose Social Security benefits. Here’s a look at the reasons you can lose payments if you get married.
Month after month the Social Security Administration (SSA) issues millions of payments to beneficiaries of the Program, which in most cases are retired workers or low-income people with some type of disability.
Whatever the case, the beneficiaries of Social Security have an obligation to inform the Administration about their marital status and keep it updated when it changes; for example, if you get married; otherwise you could lose benefits and here’s why.
Social Security: Can I lose the benefit if I get married? For what reasons?
Joining another person in marriage has implications for your financial situation. Therefore, it is extremely important that you report any change in status to the SSA, especially if it is affects your mailing address or your name.
The SSA gives you 10 days after the end of the month in which you got married to report the change. If you don't, you could face a fine or even lose benefits.
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Reporting any changes will help the Administration to continue to identify you, otherwise you may not receive your benefits as they may have been left in another name - your maiden name - or sent to another postal address.
In the event that your financial situation changes as a result of the marriage and you receive overpayments, they will all have to be repaid to SSA; In addition, the Administration reserves the right to reclaim the excess funds from future payments. In any of the situations you risk receiving a suspension of payments from six to 12 or 24 months as a penalty.
If you recently got married and have not reported it to the SSA, you should take into account that, when doing so, the Administration will request a certificate. If you don’t have one, you can provide a certified statement from a religious record or a foreign record if you were married outside the country.
You can contact the SSA to inform the agency of your marriage or get more information by calling 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778) Monday through Friday between 8:00 am – 7:00 pm or contact your local Social Security office.