20 CFR §416.1801
Verified against eCFR.gov as of June 20, 2026View official text on eCFR.gov ↗
- (a)What is in this subpart. This subpart contains the basic rules for deciding for SSI purposes whether a person is considered married and, if so, to whom; whether a person is considered a child; and whether a person is considered another person's parent. It tells what information and evidence we need to decide these facts.
- (b)Related subparts. Subpart D discusses how to determine the amount of a person's benefits; subpart G discusses what changes in a person's situation he or she must report to us; subpart K discusses how we count income; and subpart L discusses how we count resources (money and property). The questions of whether a person is married, to whom a person is married, whether a person is a child, and who is a person's parent must be answered in order to know which rules in subparts D, G, K, and L apply.
- (c)Definitions. In this subpart—
- (1)Who is eligible for SSI,
- (2)Whom we consider the spouse of another person who is eligible for SSI, and
- (3)Who was living in the same household with that person on—
- (i)The first day of the month following the date the application is filed (for the initial month of eligibility for payment based on that application);
- (ii)The date a request for reinstatement of eligibility is filed (for the month of such request); or
- (iii)The first day of the month, for all other months. An individual is considered to be living with an eligible spouse during temporary absences as defined in § 416.1149 and while receiving continued benefits under section 1611(e)(1) (E) or (G) of the Act.
Eligible spouse means a person—
Spouse means a person's husband or wife under the rules of §§ 416.1806 through 416.1835 of this part.
We and us mean the Social Security Administration.
You means a person who has applied for or has been receiving SSI benefits, or a person for whom someone else has applied for or has been receiving SSI benefits.