How many years of work are required to be eligible for disability payments?

Disability benefits are monetary payments that available to you from the Social Security Administration (SSA) if you’re younger than 65 years old and have a disability. Generally, you must meet eligibility requirements such as medical guidelines and money earned during your years of working.

According to the SSA, how your disability eligibility is determine through a combination of years of work, age and credits requirements. For instance, as of 2010, you receive one credit for each $1,120 of earning each year. However, the maximum of four credits can be earned each year. This means that if you are older than 31 years old, you must have at least 20 credits in the 10 years before you became disabled to receive benefits, according to the SSA. So, let’s say that you became disabled at 50 years old. You may need approximately 30 credits or over seven years of work to qualify for disability payments. However, the years and credit requirements will vary depending on your age.

Determining your disability eligibility can be complicated because each year the amount of money you need to make to earn credits increase as with the average earnings. Therefore, you should talk with a lawyer who specializes in determining disability requirements. The lawyer can review your case and determine if you’ve worked long enough to receive disability payments.  Also, a disability lawyer can help you if your disability application is denied.