Mr.Ginsberg,my spouse is 36 yrs.old and was recently diagnosed with osteoporosis,yes i know awfully young,but anyway,she has been a stay at home mom for the past 15 yrs.She also has a deteriating disc in her neck,and also arthritis.

I keep running into the same problem of her not working the past 15 yrs.It’s like she is being penalized for staying home and raising our 2 children.What I don’t understand is she gets her statement each year about her social security that she has put in and what she would receive.

My question is,”isn’t there a way of receiving portions of that money somehow with her combined conditions.” She has tried to do a few different jobs in the past year and has been unable to.
–Jeff

Jonathan responds: Jeff, you raise a very legitimate question and one that I get a lot. Unfortunately I cannot give you the answer you want to hear. Social Security disability looks at the ten year period prior to the onset of disability (they look at a shorter period for younger workers). If you do not have enough credits within that 10 year period, you are not “insured” for Title II disability.

She would basically need to earn around $4,000 a year for the next five years to become eligible. I have posted an article about the disability earnings requirement on this web site. This means that while your wife “worked” in raising your kids, for Social Security purposes she has no earnings during the 10 year period of time and thus does not qualify for Title II benefits. The only possible benefit available to her might be SSI, but if you work, your earnings would likely offset her eligibility. Social Security retirement, by the way, looks at a person’s lifetime earnings, not just the past 10 years.

Unfortunately, therefore, it does not appear to me that she would be eligible at this point. If she was able to go back to some type of work for five years she could regain eligibility. I have heard of a situation where a husband “paid” his wife wages for raising the kids and withheld Social Security taxes. I have never personally presented a case like that but I suppose it could work.
–Jonathan