New Jersey Social Security

• New Jersey beneficiaries received more than $1.7 billion in retirement, survivor and disability benefits each month in 2009. Most of the Social Security benefits were paid to retired workers, who received $1.2 billion monthly in 2009. Beneficiaries living in New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands are serviced by the Social Security Administration's New York region.
  
  

Social Security retirement

• The Social Security retirement program distributes benefit checks to you once you have reached a certain age. Before you're eligible, however, you have to have accumulated 40 work credits of employment. You earn work credits for every $1,120 made during the year. A maximum of four can be earned if you make $4,480 annually. The Social Security Administration calculates your benefit amounts and sends you a yearly Social Security statement explaining how much you're entitled to. You can start receiving benefits as early as age 62 and as late as 70, but your full benefit rate is determined by your retirement age. As of 2011, the age is 66 if you were born after 1943 and 67 if you were born after 1960. You get less than your full benefit rate if you receive payments before your retirement age and more if you delay them until after.
  
  

Social Security Disability

• You can receive Social Security disability benefits if you have a long-term medical condition that lasts for 12 months or more. The disability must prevent you from working and adjusting to other types of work. You also need 40 work credits to receive these benefits, but the Social Security Administration may exempt you from this requirement if you're disabled at a younger age. In 2009, 176,000 disabled workers received Social Security benefits in New Jersey. The application process for disability benefits is the longest of the three Social Security programs, taking three to five months. You also have to wait five full months before receiving benefit payments. It is also one of the hardest benefits to qualify for as only four in 10 first-time applicants are accepted, according to the Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education.
  
  

Social Security Survivors

• The Social Security Administration also pays benefits to your family members if you die. The survivor program distributes payments to your spouse, ex-spouse and your dependent children based on how much you earned when you worked. For your family to receive benefits, you need 40 work credits, but if you died before reaching it, the Social Security Administration may still qualify you. Benefit amounts are based on the beneficiaries' ages. Up to 100 percent of your benefit rate can go to your spouse or ex-spouse once he reaches full retirement age, but only 71.5 percent if he is between the ages of 60 to full retirement age or the ages of 50 to 59 and is disabled. More than 111,000 New Jersey widows and widowers received survivor benefits in 2009.