How the Site Works: Ascend's mission is to take the pain out of personal finance for everyone. Not everyone who comes to our site is currently best fit for the Ascend product, so we spend a great deal of time and effort finding partners that we hope will be beneficial to you.
How We Make Money: Our partners sometimes compensate us in the way of advertising. Some partners we recommend pay us referral fees for sending them new customers. If you click through an application link on our site and end up receiving the service, we may receive compensation when your application is approved, and you move forward with this product. Each partner is vetted based on the following criteria:
If you're thinking about filing bankruptcy, one of the most common questions is:
Do Social Security or disability benefits count as income in the means test?
The short answer is: most of the time, no.
Social Security retirement, SSDI, and SSI are generally excluded from the bankruptcy means test, which can make it easier to qualify for Chapter 7.
But there are a few important exceptions depending on the type of income you're receiving.
The Chapter 7 bankruptcy means test is used to determine whether you qualify for Chapter 7 and a potential discharge of your debts.
It looks at your average income over the past six months and compares it to your state’s median income.
The key detail here is what income actually counts—and that’s where Social Security and disability benefits come into play.
If you want a quick answer based on your situation, you can use the Chapter 7 means test calculator below to estimate your eligibility in just a few minutes.
In most cases, income from Social Security is not included in the means test calculation.
That means you generally do not include:
These benefits are protected under federal law and are typically excluded when determining whether you qualify for Chapter 7.
However, not all disability-related income is treated the same way.
Social Security retirement income is not counted as income in the means test.
Even though you receive it monthly, it’s treated differently than wages or business income.
That said, if you're considering Chapter 13 instead of Chapter 7, you may still choose to include this income to help support a repayment plan.
If you’re unsure how much you’ll receive in benefits, you can use our existing Social Security calculator.
SSDI is also generally excluded from the means test.
These benefits are paid to individuals who are unable to work due to a qualifying disability, and they are protected under federal law.
So if SSDI is your primary source of income, you may still qualify for Chapter 7—even if the total amount seems high.
SSI is not included in the means test either.
This program is designed for individuals with limited income and resources, and like SSDI, it is protected from being counted in bankruptcy income calculations.
Not all disability income is automatically excluded.
Income from the following sources may be included in the means test:
These types of income are not always protected in the same way as Social Security benefits.
Because rules can vary depending on your situation and jurisdiction, it’s a good idea to review this with a bankruptcy attorney if you’re unsure.
While Social Security income is excluded from the Chapter 7 means test, it can still play a role in Chapter 13.
In Chapter 13:
This can vary depending on where you file, which is why it’s important to understand how your local court approaches it.
Let's cover income that is included in the bankruptcy means test.
Most household income must be included in the Means Test to calculate your average monthly income and average annual income. Examples of income that must be included when completing the Bankruptcy Means Test include, but are not limited to:
If your spouse is not filing for bankruptcy relief with you, you must usually include your spouse’s income as “household income” on the Means Test. However, you are allowed to claim household expenses for each person in your household, even though your spouse is not filing for bankruptcy relief.
Because the rules can get confusing fast, the easiest way to understand where you stand is to run your numbers.
We built a free Chapter 7 means test calculator that shows:
It takes about 2–5 minutes and is based on official bankruptcy forms.
Yes
No