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Resources Counted for Supplemental Security Income Eligibility
In order to qualify for Supplemental Security Income benefits, you need to have a disability that keeps you from working. You also have to be living on little income and resources. Unfortunately, applicants need to live on next to nothing to qualify for this program. This page discusses the exact resources that the SSA uses to determine your eligibility for Supplemental Security Income.
The Coye Law Firm can help you get disability benefits from any program for which you qualify. Call our offices to discuss your case. If you don't meet the requirements for one program, our experienced disability attorneys or staff members can let you know if you qualify for another.
What Are "Resources"?
Resources are things you already own, as opposed to money in your bank account or what you make from income. Resources include:
- bank accounts, stocks, U.S. savings bonds
- land
- life insurance
- personal property
- vehicles
- items you own that can be changed to cash and used as food or shelter
- deemed resources
Deemed resources are those that you share with the spouse or parent you are living with. If a parent tries to get benefits for their disabled child and they are a single parent, $2,000 of their countable resources does not count. If the child lives with two parents, then $3,000 doesn't count.
The Social Security Administration does not consider the following items to be resources when determining SSI eligibility:
- the home you live in and the land it sits on
- your household goods and personal effects
- your wedding and engagement rings
- burial plots for you and your immediate family
- burial funds up to $1,500 for you and your spouse
- life insurance policies up to $1,500
- one vehicle if you or a member of your household uses it for transportation
- retroactive SSI or other Social Security benefits for up to nine months after you receive them
- dedicated accounts for disabled or blind children
- property essential to self-support
- money saved in an Individual Development Account
- some trusts
- cash received to replace an excluded resource (i.e. a house)
- resources that a blind or disabled person needs for an approved plan for achieving self-support (PASS)
- support and maintenance assistance and home energy assistance not counted as income
- disaster relief assistance
Some resources are not counted for the first few months that a person has them. Cash received for medical or social service that the Social Security Administration does not count as income is also not counted as a resource for one month. State or local relocation assistance, crime victim's assistance, earned income tax credit payments, as well as grants, scholarships, fellowships, and gifts set aside for educational expenses are not counted as resources for nine months.
Some individuals may find that the total value of their resources exceeds the limit for SSI eligibility. You may sell or give away some resources in order to meet the requirements, but you want to make sure that the benefits outweigh the hardships before making this decision.
The Coye Law Firm is an experienced disability law firm that can help you if your claim has been denied. An attorney can help you determine the precise reason your claim has been denied and how we can win in an appeal. Call our firm today.
