Can disability benefits be garnished to pay child support?
I am often asked if Social Security Disability Benefits can be garnished to pay child support payments. The answer of this question depends on what type of Social Security Disability benefits you are receiving.
If you are receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI), the federal government does not allow these benefits to be garnished. SSI is given to lower-income individuals – those individuals such as the aged, blind, and disabled who meet certain low income and resource levels and do not qualify for Social Security Disability (SSDI). The federal government funds SSI through general tax revenues so that the qualifying individuals can pay for expenses such as clothing, housing, and food. Because the federal government treats SSI as a public welfare benefit and not as income for the purposes of child support payments, they do not allow Supplemental Security Income benefits to be garnished.
On the other hand, Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) can be garnished to pay child support payments. SSDI benefits are funded from the money you as a worker paid into the Social Security system (through employment taxes) when you were still working. The amount of SSDI benefits you get is based on how much you earned/how much you contributed into the Social Security system (via taxes). When employees become disabled and are unable to work, these SSDI payments act as a replacement of income. According to the federal government, because SSDI is considered a substitute for lost wages, it can be garnished for child support payments.
A benefit of SSDI is that children of the disabled workers that receive SSDI payments may qualify to receive SSDI benefits until a certain age as well, and these payments can be subtracted from the child support owed.
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Jonathan Ginsberg
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If im paing child support as ordered including an amount to pay down back child support and just got approved for ssdi, ssi can foc take the lump sum payment or is there a limit to how much fo that payment they can take if so what is that %
I have been divorced from my first husband since 1989. I recieved child support from him for approx. 6 month, from Sept 1989 – March 1990 for 3 children. My ex husband quit his job to avoid paying child support. I believe he is collecting disability, but I do not know if it is (SSI) or (SSDI). My question: Am I entitled to back child support? My children now are all grown adults.
I just wanted to ask about something. I am a father that got sole custody of two gils, that are 3 and 4, and the mom is disable. she suffers from depression and cannot work. My question is I spoke to my attorney and she said that I can ask the social security for payments because the mom cannot pay child support to me. I do make have a decent hourly wage, but child care is very expensive to me , I have a baby sitter at the moment, but soon she won’t be able to take care of the girl, I am looking at daycare. The prices for each child are expensive I by myself cannot afford with all other bills I have the day care. Can I qualify for help because the girls mom is disble?
What about the other way around — does child support count as income when applying for SSDI?
if the mother is receiving the payments for children from ssdi can what you get be subjected to child support
@Alex:
That’s what I wanna know! I’m on SSDI in Texas and has a two year old that I am having to also support on my very low income SSDI check. Can I recieve child support from her dad or will they just take it out of my SSDI check. I’m not going to file if they do. Child suport can be very weary and not stable!
How am I supposed to live on a disability check that is585….heck… my rent is 450 a month. Is there some sorf of help or assistance that I can get. like maybe housing or food..something? I would greatly appreciated. I am severely depressed. am in pain and misery every single day.
How am I supposed to live on a disability check that is585….heck… my rent is 450 a month. Is there some sorf of help or assistance that I can get. like maybe housing or food..something? I would greatly appreciated. I am severely depressed. am in pain and misery every single day
My name: Jayson Rivers
jay-rivers@hotmail.com
5243 Greenwood Rd. Lot B-1
Shreveport, LA 71109
318-670-8369
Can my child collect social security if father is in prison?
i was wondering if my husband would have to pay child support being disabled in a wheelchair? he says no but i say yes and i want to leave but i have no income and 4 children he has been the provider for many years i only worked temp at christmas time to help out because i have to be here for him,, would he have to pay child support with his disability ss?
Sheri, this is a legal question that needs to be answered by a lawyer in your jurisdiction who can sit down with you to review all of the facts of your case.
My boyfriend suffers from severe depression & can not work, therefor receives SSDI. Just recently he got a letter in the mail stating that half (I don’t know the exact percentage) of the SSDI amount is going to be garnished for Child Support. We live in Texas. Is she allowed to take that much out? What is the minimum and maximum percentage that can be taken out of SSDI for Child Support?
My husband is receiving SSA benefits due to his disability. He is devorced and married to me now. He has been separated and devorced from his ex-wife for approximately three or four years. They both have two kids together, but he has not seen them since the day they got separated. Yet, his ex-wife and both of their kids each get a check from his social security. She was supposedly getting paid a check for taking care of my husband and his disability, but she stoped taking care of him since before they got separated. He is unsure if the kids are his due to my husband finding out that she cheated all throughout the marriage, but she hasn’t served him with child support papers for he could find out if the kids are his or not. From what we have heard from my sister-in-law is that my husband’s ex-wife is living conditions with the kids are unhealthy in the way that she takes them to live from place to place under dangerous conditions from what she’s exposed the kids too, and that she remarried eventhought she was seeing dating a bunch of guys in the past, and works under the table. From time to time my sister-in-law receives messages from her saying that she’s taking the kids to live to another state. My husband lost the custody of the kids due to a restraining order, but now he wants to know what he can do for the sake of those kids, and for her not to take them out of state without his consent. He would like to cut his wife off his SSA benefits, but not his kids. He also wants to file for custody rights, but nobody knows where his ex-wife is living or hiding. I’m trying to help my husband, that way he can get his kids back or at least have the right to see them again. Those kids don’t deserve to be out living on the streets under unhealthy conditions. How can my husband cut his ex-wife off his SSA, and how can he find out her address if any to file for custody? Thank you!
i get my ssi can they make me pay for back child support iam mild mental retarted i go to court on the 25 of this month can they put me in jail
and i live in west virginia