What Happens to My Social Security Disability Benefits When I Reach Full Retirement Age?

Once you are approved for Social Security Disability, your benefit payments will last until one of three things happen:

• Your medical condition improves, and you are able to return to work.
• You start working and earn too much money.
• You reach retirement age.

For both Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI), once you reach your retirement age, your disability benefits automatically convert to retirement benefits, but the amount usually remains the same.

Some people who receive SSI prior to retirement age will receive a different amount once they reach early retirement age. It will depend on what your SSI benefit amount was.

You cannot receive both disability and retirement benefits simultaneously on the same earnings record. In addition, SSI applicants or recipients must take retirement, if eligible, once they reach 62.

You don’t need to apply or take any other action to begin receiving your retirement benefits. The Social Security Administration (SSA) will automatically convert your SSDI benefits to retirement benefits when you reach your full retirement age. There will be no interruption in payments during this transition.

Your full retirement age depends on the year you were born:

• If you were born in 1954 or earlier, your full retirement age is 66 or younger.

• If your birth year falls between 1955 and 1960, full retirement age increases gradually with an additional two months for each year. (For example, if you were born in 1958, your full retirement age is 66 years, plus three years, times two months—a final age of 66 years and six months.)

• If you were born in 1960 or later your full retirement age is 67.

The monthly amount you receive can change if you received other benefits on top of your SSDI, like workers’ compensation benefits. These additional benefits can reduce your SSDI payment before retirement. The reduction ends when you hit full retirement age, so your Social Security benefit would increase then.

You can get early retirement benefits while you await a decision on your disability case if you are at least 62 years old. If you are successful in your disability case, you’ll receive the higher disability benefit amount.

In effect, you will get a monthly pay increase from Social Security. The advantage of filing for disability while receiving early retirement is a higher monthly Social Security check if you win your disability case. The early retirement age benefit can be as much as 30% less than the full retirement age benefit, while your monthly disability benefit is 100% of your full retirement age benefit.

However, there can be a downside. If you are unsuccessful in your disability case, you may not be able to reverse your decision to take the lower retirement benefit. There is a 12-month deadline for withdrawing the application for retirement after you file it, and you may have to pay back any benefits that you or your family received.

The requirements for SSDI and SSI are complicated, and Social Security has an application with many questions to determine your eligibility.

If you are considering applying for Social Security Disability benefits or if you applied and were turned down for benefits, it is only natural that you, too, will have many questions.

Let the experienced Chicago disability lawyers at Nash Disability Law help you navigate the complicated and often confusing path to winning Social Security Disability benefits.

Call or email our disability attorney team today for a free evaluation of your case.

As disability lawyers, we only get paid when you win your case.