Navigating Social Security's 'marriage penalty'

Jennifer Updike and Lewis Fredette got engaged in December. The couple, who are both on the autism spectrum, look forward to moving in together soon and tying the knot in a religious ceremony.

But because they both receive Supplemental Security Income -- commonly referred to as SSI -- they'll lose about $300 in combined income monthly if they get married due to the resource limits that the National Council on Disability calls the "marriage penalty." SSI resource limits would also restrict them from having more than $3,000 in combined savings, $1,000 less than they could have individually. They're staying engaged indefinitely.

"Our entire decision (to get married) was based upon whether or not we would lose money and how much we would lose," Fredette says.

"We wouldn't have been able to support ourselves with that much money lost," Updike adds.

Updike and Fredette aren't alone. The Social Security Administration reported over 6.5 million SSI recipients over the age of 18 in 2022, the most recent data available. And a 2021 report of U.S. Census Bureau data from 2017 found that most working-age SSI recipients weren't married or had never been married, a stark difference from nonrecipient working-age adults.

Though the Social Security Administration, also called the SSA, disincentivizes low-income and disabled couples from getting married, there are ways to tie the knot while minimizing losses.

Why SSI has limits

"SSI is a needs-based program; It's very similar to welfare," says Steven R. Dolson, an attorney specializing in Social Security disability benefits at The Law Offices of Steven R. Dolson PLLC in Syracuse, New York. It differs from Social Security Disability Insurance, also called SSDI, which requires enough work history to pay a monthly benefit to people with disabilities who have lost their ability to work.

SSI doesn't need a work history; it's for people with disabilities who have little to no income or resources. But that's not to say these benefits are easy to get.

"Social Security is trying to get people off the rolls constantly," Dolson says. "The theory is to give the minimum amount to sustain them on a day-to-day basis."

The program rules assume that married couples need less per person because they share expenses such as housing and transportation.