benefits law

Under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act ("ERISA") a qualified domestic relations order (QDRO) is a domestic relations order, i.e., a

A qualified domestic trust (QDOT) is a trust created for a surviving spouse who is a non-U.S. citizen to qualify for the marital deduction. It allows a non-U.S. citizen married to a U.S.

Section 8 refers to the Housing Choice Voucher Program, a federally funded program that seeks to help low-income families rent housing in the private market. The Housing Choice Voucher Program is administered at the federal level by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and at the state local level by Public Housing Agencies (PHA).

Self-employment tax is the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) tax that a person who is self-employed must pay on profits. The taxes consist of the Social Security taxes and Medicare taxes which are separate and operate differently. As of 2025, the Social Security taxes are 12.4% of the person’s profits up to a certain amount each year which currently stands at $176,100.

A single-payer system is a type of healthcare financing system in which a single public agency handles health insurance and payments for healthcare services for a specific population.

Social Security is designed, as the title suggests, to provide security. In order to protect individuals from unforeseen catastrophes, the government spreads certain risks among all members of society so that no single family bears the full burden of such occurrences.

menu of sources

US Code Title 42, Chapter 7 (compilation of the Social Security Act)

CFR Title 20, Chapter III (Social Security Administration)

For a full list of sources see Peter Martin's Social Security Library.

Other References

Key Internet Sources

• Social Security Benefits (Nolo)

other topics

Category: Public Benefits

Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) is a federal program in the United States that pays benefits to injured and disabled workers and certain members of their families if the worker is “insured,” meaning they have worked for a required amount of time and paid Social Security taxes through their work history.

A Social Security Number (SSN) is a unique nine-digit number assigned to U.S. citizens, permanent residents, or temporary working residents. The SSN was created in 1936 to keep track of the earnings history of U.S. workers for social security entitlement and benefit computation purposes.

Social Security tax is a FICA tax on wages which provides most of the funding for Social Security. The tax is 12.4% of an employee’s wages, but the tax cost is split between the employee and employer with each paying 6.2%. This tax only applies up to a certain amount of wages called the maximum wage base which changes every year with the 2021 maximum being $142,800. This means that in 2021 no wages above $142,800 would incur Social Security taxes.

Spend down is a process that allows individuals whose income or resources exceed Medicaid eligibility limits to qualify by reducing the amount counted against them. It ensures that applicants’ significant medical expenses are considered when determining eligibility.