We took into account the number of people living in the house and divided daily living expenses such as rent, utilities, and food among all of us. We added in clothing, personal toiletries and such, medical expenses, medical premium, and schooling. Fortunately, I retired with a "Cadillac" retiree medical plan, which allows me to cover my husband and other dependents, as well as a secondary to Medicare coverage for myself. The plan covers, medical, dental, and vision and compared to a personal plan with such coverage, the retiree medical plan cost is very much lower. Schooling is public school special education, so our costs for all programs and extra curricular activities are minimal, and we live within the school district he goes to, so we pay school taxes. We do pay for school lunches from his money. All in all, the SS monies he receives pays for over half of his expenses. We pay the rest, but cannot claim him on our tax return. I realize that we would not be able to receive the $500 dollars for him as a dependent, but wondered if because those who receive SS are now going to receive stimulus payments, will he receive his $500 even though he is under 17 years old. It appears to me he is in a gray area.
