03-01-2023-0432 - Rules for Retirement and Survivor Benefits DRAFT

https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v75n3/v75n3p1.html

Rules for Retirement and Survivor Benefits

The family maximum formula for Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) benefits is based on a beneficiary's primary insurance amount (PIA). The PIA is a beneficiary's basic Social Security benefit amount before adjustments for retirement age, earnings, and other factors.¹ For a worker who reaches age 62 or dies in 2015 (before reaching age 62), SSA calculates the family maximum using the following formula:

150 percent of the first $1,056 of the worker's PIA plus

272 percent of the worker's PIA over $1,056 through $1,524 plus

134 percent of the worker's PIA over $1,524 through $1,987 plus

175 percent of the worker's PIA over $1,987.

Ultimately, this formula yields a maximum for each family that is between 150 percent and 188 percent of the worker's basic Social Security benefit, or PIA.² The final amount is rounded to the next lowest ten cents. The dollar amounts in the family maximum formula increase each year according to average wage growth.³

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12 For more information, see SSA's Program Operations Manual System RS 00615.770 (simultaneous entitlement of children on more than one worker's record), https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.NSF/lnx/0300615770; and RS 00615.772 (determination of the worker record upon which benefits will be based), https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0300615772.

13 The committee report for the 1972 Amendments states, “The bill would provide that a child who is entitled to benefits on the earnings record of more than one worker would get benefits based on the earnings record that results in paying him or her the highest amount, if the payment would not reduce the benefits of any other individual who is entitled to benefits based on that earnings record. (Entitlement of a child on the earnings record that will give him or her the highest benefit could otherwise result in a reduction of the benefits for other people entitled on the same earnings record because of the family maximum limitation.)” (Congressional Record on S. 18480, October 17, 1972)

23 Congress intended the maximum family benefit to range from 150 percent to 188 percent of the worker's PIA, as it did under prior law (committee reports for P.L. 95-216). Congressional members considered setting a flat-rate maximum, but decided that it would either result in many families getting lower benefits or would have to cost more in order to provide similar benefit levels to what was provided with the range of family maximums from 150 percent to 188 percent. The law provided an exception for those who became entitled to benefits in 1979 or earlier.

24 The DI family maximum rules were described by the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee as “temporary and a transition,” but the formula has been maintained since then (Congressional Record on H. 7410, September 6, 1979).

https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v75n3/v75n3p1.html

https://faq.ssa.gov/en-US/Topic/article/KA-02107

https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/COLA/familymax.html

The Disabled Adult Child (DAC) — who may be an adopted child, or, in some cases, a stepchild, grandchild, or step grandchild — must be unmarried, age 18 or older, have a qualified disability that started before age 22, and meet the definition of disability for adults.

It is not necessary that the DAC ever worked. Benefits are paid based on the parent's earnings record.

A child already receiving SSI benefits or disability benefits on his or her own record should check to see if DAC benefits may be payable on a parent's earnings record when they reach age 18. Higher benefits might be payable and entitlement to Medicare may be possible.

 

https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/disability/qualify.html#anchor7

https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v69n3/v69n3p29.html