When Someone with a Felony Can Qualify for Social Security Disability—and When They Can’t
When you apply for disability benefits, your felony conviction is unlikely to be the main obstacle to approval—because there are so many other obstacles which everyone applying for benefits has to overcome.
The real challenge may be proving, like in a legal case, that your health problems are severe enough to meet the government’s strict definition of a disability.
You need to confirm that:
- Your health issues prevent you from working in your last job.
- Changing jobs isn’t possible or won’t help.
- Your work-ending health problems are going to last a year or more.
Whether you have a felony on your record or not, these are the standards you’ll need to meet.
Exactly what kind of disability benefits you’re eligible to receive will depend on your work history.
You need to have worked and paid into the system to receive SSDI benefits, but you can be eligible for SSI benefits if you haven’t worked recently or even if you’ve never worked.
There are also situations where someone with a felony record can’t qualify for Social Security Disability benefits, even if it seems like their health issues meet the government’s criteria.
You won’t be able to receive benefits if:
- Your disability was caused or worsened by your own illegal activities.
- Your health problems developed while you were serving a prison sentence.
- You committed a specific class of crime that disqualifies you for benefits, like treason or terrorism.
The first two in particular can cause big problems when you apply for disability.
If it seems possible that the health issues that stop you from working only developed because of your criminal activity, that could sink your claim.
It’s important to tell your own side of the story and make sure that the Social Security Administration (SSA) has all of the relevant information needed to analyze your claim fairly.
Having a disability attorney who knows this process well can benefit you, which is especially true for anyone whose past could make it harder to qualify for benefits.
When you work with a disability attorney, you don’t pay an attorney fee until you win benefits.
You Can’t Receive Disability Benefits in Jail
It’s also important to know that you can’t continue to receive SSI or SSDI while you are incarcerated. If you are jailed for more than 30 days, disability payments stop.
You also can’t receive benefits for any month during which you are incarcerated if your total jail time is 30 days or more.
Let’s say you were jailed on March 25, and your sentence ends May 3. You would miss out on benefits for March, April and May, all three months when you had some days incarcerated, even though you were only in jail part of some of those months.
You’ll be eligible for benefits again in the first full month after your jail sentence ends, but you will need to make the effort to get your SSDI or SSI payments reinstated.
If you are incarcerated for a long time, 12 months or more, you may need to start a new application for disability benefits when you are eligible to receive them again.
Social Security won’t automatically start sending you checks again after you are released from jail. The burden is on you to request your benefits or see if you need to start a new application.
How an Oregon Disability Lawyer Can Help
Even when your felony conviction doesn’t prevent you from getting Social Security Disability benefits, the high standards set by the government might.
The SSA carefully evaluates each claim to ensure that only deserving applicants receive monthly checks.
This is a battle, but our disability lawyers have fought it for our clients in Oregon many times.
Wells, Manning, Eitenmiller & Taylor can assist you from the very first step of the disability claims process.
Your lawyer can:
- Help you fill out application forms
- Take the time to really understand your case and situation
- Identify evidence that can support your claim
- Support your appeal if your initial application is denied
- Represent you at your disability hearing in front of an administrative law judge
- Cross-examine vocational and medical experts at your hearing
- Keep you aware of important deadlines
- Protect your back pay and ongoing benefits
Our Oregon disability attorneys will treat your claim with the personal attention it deserves.
An actual lawyer will start your case. You won’t be shuffled around to different staff members and forced to repeat your story over and over.
A mistake from your past shouldn’t prevent you from getting the financial assistance you need when you can’t work.
We’re with You Every Step of the Way
Whether you’re trying to determine if you’re qualified for disability benefits, you need help filing your application, or you received a denial notice and want another chance, our law firm helps from the beginning and stays by your side.
Have a Question about Disability Benefits?
Your health is bad. You can’t work. Your financial stability is threatened. So your head is swimming with questions. How will you get by? How does Social Security Disability work? We’ve gathered answers. See them here:
Disability FAQs »
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