Supplemental Security Income is Not Marital Property
In Tennessee, divorcing parties are entitled to an equitable division of their marital property, but the courts have no jurisdiction to distribute property classified as separate property. While Tennessee law specifically defines what is classified as marital property and separate property, some types of assets, like Supplemental Security Income, are not easily classified. Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is often confused with social security disability, but the two are not the same. A recent decision by the Tennessee Court of Appeals distinguishes the two and establishes that SSI payments do not fall within the statutory definition of “marital property” in Tennessee.
In the case introduced above, Husband and Wife were getting a divorce in Tennessee after roughly seventeen years of marriage. After the divorce decree was entered, Husband appealed on the grounds that a lump sum SSI payment awarded to Wife during the marriage should have been considered marital property under the Tennessee statute and thus should have been divided equally among the parties. Husband argued that SSI payments were effectively social security disability payments and were thus marital property under Tenn. Code Ann. Section 36-4-121(C). The Court distinguished SSI from social security disability payments by showing that SSI payments are a form of public assistance given to those who may not be able provide for themselves and such payments “have nothing to do with earnings a person may have had,” while social security disability payments are directly tied to the amount a person has paid in to the Social Security System. The Court thus concluded that SSI payments did not fall within the language of Tenn. Code Ann. Section 36-4-121. The Court further explained that even if SSI payments were considered similar to social security disability payments under the statute, they still would not fall under the definition of marital property, because they are not remuneration for employment and thus do not fall under the statutory language classifying such payments made as recovery for wages lost during the marriage as marital property.
The full language of Tenn. Code Ann. Section 36-4-121 provides that marital property includes “recovery in personal injury, workers' compensation, social security disability actions, and other similar actions for the following: wages lost during the marriage, reimbursement for medical bills incurred and paid with marital property, and property damage to marital property.” Thus, the only way SSI payments can fall within the statute’s language is if SSI payments are similar enough to be included with the other listed types of payments and if they are paid for one of the purposes listed in the second half of the statute. The Tennessee Court of appeals found that SSI payments fit neither of these categories, and held that they were to be classified as separate property.
Sources: T.C.A. section 36-4-121; Brewer v. Brewer, 34 TAM 40-12, 9/3/09, WS, Highers, 13 pages
