Social Security Representative Payee - YouTube

very often parents and other individuals who  

have a disabled family member, disabled child  and want to apply for social security benefits  

for that individual but realize that that person  cannot handle their own financial decision making  

want to be able to have authority to use  social security benefits for that person's  

care and other needs and the way to do that  is to apply to be that person's what's called  

representative payee, that is the designation  by the social security administration  

that acknowledges that a disabled individual  who is receiving social security disability  

benefits or supplemental security income is  unable to handle financial decision making  

themselves and needs an advocate or a proxy  recognized by social security to do that  

so a representative payee is either an individual  or it can be an organization. in missouri sometimes  

a company called empower me is appointed  as a representative payee if someone is  

residing in a long-term care facility  that facility to which social security  

benefits are paid for lodging or residential  treatment is made the representative payee  

and that is an appointment through social  security for the management of the benefits  

of a person who's disabled who cannot  handle their own financial decision making  

so the main responsibilities of a individual  or entity that is named as a representative payee

is to use the benefits that that person receives  for current and future foreseeable needs for that  

individual. now if someone is the representative  payee for an individual who is receiving  

supplemental security income benefits there  are more restrictions on the use of those funds  

so ssi benefits or supplemental security benefits  are used primarily for shelter and food for that  

individual so there are strict requirements  that are beyond the scope of this talk today  

for which those ssi benefits must be used. so a person or an entity that is a representative  

payee for those benefits really has to know how  those benefits can be used and any benefits that  

are not used in a particular month would be saved  for future use for the benefit of that individual  

a representative payee must also keep excellent  records of how benefits are used, keep track of  

the monthly benefits, any notices that are received  from social security administration, and provide  

reports on an annual basis that are sent by  social security to the representative payee  

to account for how those benefits are used on a  monthly basis. how to become a representative payee  

usually a parent if we're talking about an  individual not a special needs trustee would  

become the representative payee for a disabled  child social security payment whether that be  

again ssi or ssd social security disability.  if the parent is the special needs trustee  

certainly the special needs trustee  could be the representative payee  

but it's usually someone who is living with and very intimately familiar with the ongoing  

daily and monthly needs of the disabled  individual and it's very easy to apply for  

representative payee status by going to the  social security website which is www.ssa.gov

there is guidance on that website if you just type in "how to become a representative payee" they guide  

you through that process. the application itself is  an ssa-11 which is the request to be selected as  

representative payee and the documentation that's  required to be submitted with that form to be  

representative payee and generally social security had  been requiring pre-pandemic that the application  

also be accompanied by a face-to-face  interview but some social security offices are not  

having face-to-face interviews so there may  be a telephonic interview or you would contact  

your local social security office to see  if they are now scheduling those interviews  

so once an entity or an individual  is appointed as representative payee  

the responsibility of the individual is to set up  a representative payee checking account into which  

the funds will be directly deposited by social  security and the titling of that account is  

the individual who is the representative payee so  it would be debra schuster representative payee  

for jane doe and the preference is for it to be a  checking account because the assumption is going  

to be that those funds are going to be used on  a regular basis, monthly basis, for the individual  

and social security does encourage  the use of interest-bearing accounts  

if there are monies that are not going to be used  on a monthly basis now most checking accounts do  

not carry interest but if there are additional  funds or a back award since an individual  

who receives social security can keep up to  two thousand dollars in their name to have an  

interest-bearing account for those funds is  something that social security really prefers  

so the representative payee is not required to  use any of their own funds for the needs of the  

disabled individual but again must exclusively  use the funds of the disabled individual for  

that person's benefit. the only exception is if  the disabled individual is over the age of 18  

and living with a parent or someone else and  their social security would be paid as rent or for  

food and rent to the individual with  whom they're living pursuant to a rental  

agreement so that is often an agreement that  is drafted by attorneys and submitted by the  

parent or the representative payee when  actually the social security is paid for  

food and shelter and that is a legitimate payment  for value. the representative payee can also be  

reimbursed for out-of-pocket expenses that are  incurred on behalf of the disabled individual  

but again they must keep excellent records to  substantiate any reimbursement to social security