Apr
13
2009
By Guest (not verified)
My husband has just been awarded SSI. We have lived in the same house but in separate rooms for the last 5 years. We both want a divorce, but, I think because of his illness (bipolar among others) he is afraid to leave the house. Because of my income he only gets $198 per month. Can I divorce him and rent him his room, making sure he also buys his own food and pays his share of the utilities? There is also the problem that we can only have one vehicle. How am I supposed to get rid of him if he can't even has his own car. If he maintained a separate household he could then get a car, have his own income and hopefully be off on his own. It would not otherwise be economical for me to divorce him due to tax reasons.
Divorce and SSI benefits
Divorce is obviously a serious topic which you should receive customized advice about. You may wish to contact your local office or other resource for this.
However, for SSI benefits, usually people are concerned about a benefit cut with marriage, rather than a benefit loss with divorce. For example, the payment for a couple is lower than that made to two eligible individuals because married people living together generally share expenses and live more economically than two people living independently.
Also, allowable "resources" for two eligible individuals are greater than a couple. The limit for countable resources is $2,000 for an individual and $3,000 for a couple. Note one vehicle, regardless of value, if it is used for transportation for you or a member of your household, is not counted as a "resource".
Cohabitating while "publicly" divorced may not be an issue. Normally it is more of an problem if you cohabitate, receive SSI benefits as individuals (to get higher individual benefits), but hold yourself out as married to the public. For example, see this audit report where 42 couples, whose marriages were unreported to SSA, resulted in $497,808 in improper payments.
Here are some references, but seek personalized advice :
http://www.ssa.gov/ssi/text-resources-ussi.htm
http://www.ssa.gov/ssi/spotlights/spot-transfer-resources.htm
http://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/issuepapers/ip2003-01.pdf