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Eligible Couples – 2011
The Social Security Administration defines an eligible couple as two SSI eligible individuals who are legally married under the laws of the State where they have a permanent home, living together in the same household and holding themselves out as husband and wife to the community in which they live, or determined by SSA to be entitled to either husband’s or wife’s Social Security benefits as the spouse of the other. It is important to understand that eligible couples only exist when both members of the couple are SSI eligible, not when an eligible individual is married to an ineligible spouse. For this reason, spouse-to-spouse deeming in which income and/or resources from an ineligible spouse are “deemed” available to the eligible individual never applies to eligible couples.
Eligible couples may exist even when neither member is actually in SSI cash payment status. An example of this would be when both members of an eligible couple are working and in 1619(b) status. The term “eligible couple” only applies to SSI recipients, not beneficiaries of the Title II disability benefit programs (SSDI/CDB/DWB). In some instances, an eligible couple may also be a “concurrent” couple. This means that both members are SSI eligible and one or both also receive a Title II benefit of some type.
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