What Is a Date Last Insured (DLI)?

How Does It Affect Your SSD Claim?

Your date last insured (DLI) represents the last day that you are eligible to collect benefits from Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). To qualify for SSDI benefits, you must have worked for 5 of the last 10 years, and you must have been at a job where you paid taxes into Social Security. Typically, the 10-year look back period starts from the day that you submit your application. Your last day of work has to be at least within 5 years of your applying for SSDI benefits.

Let’s Say That You Applied For These Disability Benefits Today.

If your last day on the job was 5 years ago, your DLI would be today. If you stopped working 6 years ago, your DLI would be 1 year ago from today. If your DLI has passed, you cannot get approved. There are, however, exceptions to this rule:

• Are you younger than 30? If you are under 30 years old, different rules apply when it comes to fulfilling the work credit requirements. A protective filing date for SSDI would look something like notifying the Social Security Administration that you plan to file an application, before you actually apply. If you sent this written notification before your DLI, then you could still submit the application after the DLI and receive benefits.

• Was the onset of your disability before your DLI? As for a disability onset date, it can be tricky to pinpoint the exact time a disability started. You would need a great deal of medical evidence to establish the timing. If your onset date was before the DLI, you still need to meet the requirement of working 5 years within the 10-year look back period, but now look back period would begin from the disability onset date, not the day that you applied for disability benefits. For example, let’s say you stopped working after you were disabled in a vehicle collision 7 years ago: that would be your disability onset date. If you waited until today to file an SSDI application, the 10-year look back period would start from that day 7 years ago, instead of from now.

Discuss Your Case with Our Social Security Disability Lawyers

Not sure what your DLI is or whether you qualify for benefits? The legal team at the Zendeh Del Law Firm, PLLC, can help you assess your situation. If it is too late to apply for Social Security disability benefits, you still have options. One of these could be applying for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits. We would be happy to go over your options with you.