Ask the Expert: Report earnings to SSA

Your friend's inheritance won't have any effect on his Social Security disability benefit. However, it will probably disqualify him for Supplemental Security Income, or SSI, a disability benefit that's based on financial need.

He didn't necessarily break a rule by working while collecting a disability benefit. The law allows disabled people a nine-month "trial work" period, during which they can receive their full Social Security disability benefit, regardless of the amount they earn, provided they report their work activity to the Social Security Administration. (In 2013, a trial work month is any month in which your total earnings top $750, or, if self-employed, you earn more than $750 after expenses or work more than 80 hours in your own business.) After the nine-month trial is over, you can keep working for another 36 months; but during that time, you won't receive a benefit for any month in which you earn more than $1,040 (or $1,740 if you're blind) after deducting work expenses related to your disability.

It sounds as if your friend exceeded this 36-month extension and received a benefit overpayment as a result. When that overpayment is paid back, he should receive his full monthly disability benefit, regardless of his inheritance.