Category: Social Security
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A marriage of at least ten years can qualify a divorced spouse for up to half of an ex-spouse’s full retirement age benefit
Divorce does not always erase a claim on a former spouse’s Social Security record. According to the Social Security Administration, “ex-spouses who were married for at least 10 years, as well as some valid non-marital legal relationships, may be eligible” for benefits, and the payment can reach up to half of the benefit amount the…
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A student under 22 can keep Supplemental Security Income while earning up to $9,730 in a year
The Social Security Administration sets aside a large block of a young student’s paycheck when it decides how much Supplemental Security Income to pay. Under the student earned income exclusion, a student under age 22 can have earnings of up to $2,410 per month, to a maximum of $9,730 per year, left out of the…
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November 2026 carries no regular Supplemental Security Income payment at all, because the November benefit goes out on October 30 when November 1 falls on a Sunday
The Social Security Administration’s regulation on Supplemental Security Income timing leaves no room for a November 1 deposit next month. November 1, 2026 is a Sunday, so the benefit for November is scheduled to go out on Friday, October 30. Households that run on SSI will see the money land two days before the month…
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Social Security’s 2027 Wednesday payments begin January 13, and SSA tells recipients to allow three extra mailing days before calling
Social Security’s Wednesday payments in 2027 start on January 13, according to the schedule the Social Security Administration has already published for the year. Recipients with birth dates on the 1st through the 10th are paid that day, those born on the 11th through the 20th follow on January 20, and those born on the…
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Social Security charges $54 for each W-2 it pulls and $79 for certified earnings information, under fees that began October 1
The Social Security Administration now charges $54 for each W-2 or W-3 it retrieves and $79 for certified detailed earnings information, under a fee schedule that took effect October 1. The amounts come from a ten-line table that replaced the one SSA last set in August 2024, and they apply to requests the agency receives…
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People drawing both Social Security and SSI are paid twice, SSI on the 1st and Social Security on the 3rd
Two deposits reach the bank account of a Social Security Administration beneficiary who also draws Supplemental Security Income, and neither follows the birth-date Wednesday calendar that most retirees and disability beneficiaries know. SSI is dated the 1st of the month. Social Security is dated the 3rd. SSA’s printed payment schedule states the rule in one…
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Social Security’s remaining 2026 birth-date payments land October 14, 21 and 28, then November 10, 18 and 25 and December 9, 16 and 23
Social Security checks do not all arrive on the same day. For most beneficiaries, the day of the month is fixed by a birth date, and the three payment days fall on Wednesdays. The remaining birth-date payments of 2026 run on October 14, 21 and 28, November 10, 18 and 25, and December 9, 16…
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Social Security’s pending hearings climbed from about 280,000 to about 360,000 in a year, the agency’s own figures show
Social Security’s hearing backlog grew by roughly 80,000 cases over the past year. The agency’s own performance page shows about 280,000 hearings pending in August 2025 and about 360,000 in August 2026, a jump of close to 29 percent. The same page reports gains elsewhere, including a phone line that now answers nearly every call,…
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One Social Security overpayment of $59,232 left $57,676 unpaid, the inspector general’s September audit found
A child-benefit overpayment that traces back to March 2015 had become a $59,232 debt by the time the Social Security Administration identified it in April 2024, and the agency’s own watchdog says $57,676 of that debt went unrepaid. The case appears in a September 2026 audit from the SSA Office of the Inspector General, which…
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An audit found 249,227 people who received Social Security child benefits were selected to have tax refunds taken
The people on the receiving end of a Social Security child-benefit overpayment are often children, or the adults who were paid on their behalf. A September 2026 audit by the Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General counted 249,227 of them whose debts had reached the point where SSA’s system picked them for a…