(WSVN) - She can’t get government assistance for her disability because her husband gets it for his disability. The government’s suggestion? Leave your husband, then you can get the money. It’s tonight’s Help Me Howard with Patrick Fraser.
For Allison and Ronald, there was never a doubt.
Allison Fulton-Taylor: “It was love at first.”
Love at first sight 21 years ago that’s brought two decades of good times.
Allison Fulton-Taylor: “We have a wonderful big, large family. Wonderful eight great kids.”
And now they are going through a bad time.
Allison Fulton-Taylor: “So I tore these ligaments. I have a herniated disc.”
Allison was hurt at work and then injured again after the surgery.
Allison Fulton-Taylor: “And, lo and behold, the same day that I had the surgery, I fell down in a parking lot, damaged knee. I fell on both knees.”
Allison was disabled and couldn’t work, but since she had not had a job for enough years to qualify for disability, she applied for another government program to help disabled people, called SSI or Supplemental Security Income.
Allison Fulton-Taylor: “With the hearing, the judge gave me fully favorable, and then I was told I won my case.”
But then, another judge reviewed the case and denied Allison’s benefits, because…
Allison Fulton-Taylor: “Because I’m married, and I live in the same house with my husband, and that he was on disability, that I could not receive the benefits?”
Ronald has been disabled since 2005. Finding out she couldn’t get the benefits for her disability because he gets benefits for his disability stunned her.
Allison Fulton-Taylor: “You know, it’s haunting me now. I can’t sleep. You know, my eating is not right.”
Then, Allison says, a social security rep and a disability attorney told her of a way to get around the law.
Ronald Taylor: “I never heard of anything like, leave your wife in order for her to get her disability money.”
That’s right, Allison was told if she and Ronald got separated and she moved out, she could get the benefits. Now she was fuming.
Allison Fulton-Taylor: “The audacity to have the right to tell me to leave my husband in order to get paid, you know, I think that’s very demeaning.”
Allison’s reply? She doesn’t need their marriage advice. She just wants the money that is there for disabled taxpayers.
Allison Fulton-Taylor: “And I’m going to stay with my husband, but I need my benefits.”
Well, Howard, does Allison have to leave her husband to get benefits for her disability?
Howard Finkelstein, 7News legal expert: “Yes, she does, because the SSI program is need-based and has strict requirements in order to receive money. They take into account the income of her husband. The government concluded that income is sufficient for their household to survive on, and the only way to get around it is for one of them to move out.”
We spoke to the SSI administration, they offered to talk to Allison, but since Howard said the law is not on her side, she is out of luck and will have to find a way to survive on just Ronald’s small disability check.
Allison Fulton-Taylor: “This is crazy. It’s crazy. It’s ludicrous.”
Allison says it’s crazy she’d have to leave her husband to get her benefits, which is why she says the government rules are ludicrous…
Allison Fulton-Taylor: “They are gonna keep it from me for what, punishing me for being married? Which I am. I’ll be honest with you, I am happily married.”
Can you imagine being in the room when they write the government rules? Wow!
Now there are a couple of different kinds of disability. It’s certainly confusing. If you want to see the difference, the links are at WSVN.com under this Help Me Howard.
And by the way, you may have noticed, I no longer have to wear bandages on my nose. Dr. Patricia Rivas spotted the cancer. Dr. T.J. Guiffrada removed the cancer in four surgeries and reconstructed my nose. Thanks to both of them, I am doing great, and thanks to you for wishing me the best.
Married to a problem you want to fix? Ready to divorce yourself from it? Contact us. Unlike the government, we have simple rules: We help everyone.
With this Help Me Howard, I’m Patrick Fraser, 7News.
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Difference In Social Security Disability Programs
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