Love shouldn't come with a penalty, but for people receiving disability benefits, getting married can have real financial consequences depending on which program you're on. The impact of marriage on your benefits varies significantly between SSI and SSDI, and understanding these differences before you walk down the aisle can help you plan ahead and avoid unwelcome surprises.
In this article, we'll cover:
- How marriage affects SSI benefits
- How marriage affects SSDI benefits
- The "marriage penalty" and why it exists for SSI recipients
- How your spouse's income and resources factor in
- Options for protecting your benefits while building a life together
- What to report to Social Security when you get married
Marriage and SSI
Marriage has the most significant impact on SSI recipients, and it's important to understand why before making this life decision.
When you're single and receiving SSI, your resource limit is $2,000. When you marry another SSI recipient, the combined resource limit for your household becomes $3,000 — not $4,000 as you might expect. Your individual payments also change: the maximum SSI payment for an eligible couple in 2026 is $1,491 per month, which is less than two individual payments of $994 each ($1,988 total). That's a reduction of nearly $500 per month just from getting married.
If you marry someone who isn't on SSI, the impact can be even more dramatic. Social Security will "deem" a portion of your spouse's income and resources to you, even if they don't actually share their money with you. This means your spouse's paycheck, savings, and other financial resources could reduce your SSI payment or disqualify you entirely.
This process, called spousal deeming, looks at your spouse's income after certain exclusions and counts a portion of it against your SSI eligibility. If your spouse earns a moderate salary, the deemed income could push you over SSI's income limits and eliminate your monthly payment.
Marriage and SSDI
The picture is quite different for SSDI recipients. Because SSDI is based on your own work record and isn't needs-based, marriage generally does not affect your SSDI benefits. You'll continue to receive the same payment amount regardless of whether you're married, and your spouse's income and resources don't factor into your eligibility.
There are a couple of situations where marriage could indirectly affect SSDI-related benefits, though. If you receive SSDI based on a former spouse's work record (which is possible in some cases), remarrying could affect that particular type of benefit. And if you receive concurrent SSI and SSDI benefits, the SSI portion would be subject to the marriage-related rules described above, even though the SSDI portion remains unchanged.
Additionally, marriage could affect whether your SSDI benefits are taxable. If your new spouse has significant income, your combined income might push you above the threshold where Social Security benefits become subject to federal income tax.
Why the Marriage Penalty Exists
The SSI marriage penalty isn't intentional in the sense that lawmakers set out to discourage marriage. It stems from SSI's fundamental design as a household-based, needs-based program. SSI assumes that married couples share expenses and that two people living together can get by on less than two individuals living separately. The combined resource limit and payment rates reflect this assumption.
Whether or not this assumption is fair — and many advocates argue it isn't — it's the current reality for SSI recipients. There have been ongoing discussions about reforming the SSI marriage penalty, and the resource limits themselves haven't been updated in decades and are widely considered outdated. But until the rules change, it's important to plan around them.
How Your Spouse's Finances Factor In
For SSI recipients marrying a non-SSI spouse, spousal deeming can feel particularly harsh. Here's a simplified version of how it works: Social Security takes your spouse's total income, applies certain exclusions (like a portion of their earned income and any of their own disability-related expenses), and then counts the remainder as if it were available to you.
Your spouse's resources also matter. Their bank accounts, investments, and other countable assets are considered when determining whether you meet SSI's resource limit. This applies even if the two of you keep your finances completely separate.
For SSDI, none of this applies. Your spouse's financial situation is simply not relevant to your SSDI eligibility or payment amount.
Protecting Your Benefits
If you're an SSI recipient considering marriage, there are some strategies worth discussing with a benefits counselor or attorney who specializes in disability law.
An ABLE account can help by allowing you to save up to $100,000 without it counting toward the SSI resource limit. Both you and your spouse could contribute to your ABLE account (up to the $20,000 annual limit in 2026), giving you a way to build savings that doesn't trigger resource limit issues.
A special needs trust is another option, particularly if your future spouse has assets they want to protect from the deeming process. Assets held in a properly structured special needs trust generally aren't counted for SSI purposes.
Some couples choose alternatives to legal marriage, such as domestic partnerships, to avoid triggering SSI's marriage rules. Whether this makes sense depends on your state's laws, your personal values, and the specific benefits at stake. It's a deeply personal decision, and there's no one-size-fits-all answer.
Reporting Your Marriage to Social Security
Regardless of which program you're on, you're required to report your marriage to Social Security. For SSI recipients, this needs to happen promptly because it can affect your payment immediately. For SSDI recipients, it's still a reporting requirement even though it typically won't change your benefits.
Failing to report your marriage can lead to overpayments, which Social Security will eventually discover and ask you to repay. It's better to report proactively and deal with any payment adjustments in real time than to face a large overpayment balance later.
You can report your marriage by visiting your local Social Security office or calling 1-800-772-1213. Bring your marriage certificate and be prepared to provide information about your spouse's income and resources if you're on SSI.
Planning a life together while protecting your benefits is possible with the right tools. Purple offers checking accounts and ABLE accounts designed for disability benefit recipients, making it easier to manage your finances as your life changes.