Social Security - Representative Payee

[Anonymous]

My husband and I are currently fully managing my elderly mother-in-law's finances (and all other details of her life too - medical, etc.). Does it make sense to apply to become her "representative payee" for social security? Are there downsides to this? Is the annual reporting onerous?

[Anonymous]

Yes, do it. All you have to do is go to Social Security and show you are managing her finances. We had the nursing home do it behind our backs as we didn't know about it and they took the money. I went to social security and they were really helpful. I had to open a joint account in a specific way to take the money and had to file a yearly accounting, which was really simple and no big deal. The report is really basic and takes a few minutes. I just brought proof I was DIL and managing the money - showed the current bank account, my marriage certificate to prove I was DIL, husband's BC, and a few other things.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I did it and it makes everything easier.

[Anonymous]

Yes, it is a good move. You can you to the bank and open a new account for her and you as the Representative Payee. Once a year SS sends a one page form asking you if all of the money was spent on her well-being. You can also complete it online. Easy.

[Anonymous]

I don't know if things have changed due to pandemic, but social security refuses take information from me to get my mom set up for her rightful entitlement to my recently-deceased dad's social security unless I am the representative payee, and is also making it nearly impossible to become the representative payee.

1) called to inform ss that my dad died. get issued a telephone appointment for several months in the future to arrange her widow benefits, am told that I need to apply to be representative payee before the call, they don't care that i am her DPoA, and won't talk to me unless I am her representative payee.

2) get the appointment confirmation, they have recorded the wrong phone number.

3) go down to social security office with all her paperwork and the confirmation, stand in line for an hour, only to be told that they refuse to allow me to apply for representative payee as I will need to do that during the phone meeting, and they won't fix the phone number either, i need to call some other number to do that.

4) call the other number, get the phone number fixed, am told that i cannot apply to be a representative payee on the phone, it needs to be an in-person interview. can i get to an office? the office i am literally standing in front of? oh, they didn't mean *today*. they change my appointment to an in-person appointment. ask what i need to bring to the meeting, am told just my dad's death cert.

5) show up to appointment with absolutely all of my parents documentation. (i'm talking passports, ss cards, medicare cards, powers of attorney, wills, birth certs, marriage certs, nursing home assessments, etc., and the death cert.) stand in line for an hour in an attempt to check in... they checked in one person during that hour. There were two people in front of me. also check in online. eventually they call my name while i am still in line to check in. go to desk. "did you check in? you need to check in up front." "i had been in line for an hour to check in when you called our name." "i guess i'll try to check you in."

6) then they come back and tell me that i cannot apply to be representative payee without a form signed by her doctor that THEY WILL NOT GIVE TO ME. I now have to get her doctor send a fax to this individual so they can fax her doctor the secret form that they will fill out and fax back. Of course this is the first time anyone has mentioned a form in all of my calls and visits to social security. I had her most recent assessment (required by DC for anyone in memory care), that details all of the ways she cannot meet activities of daily living and her cognitive impairments, and the fact that she's on hospice, but since it's not their form they don't care.

Of course, I live in DC so I don't have a senator's office that can actually help cut red tape. If it wouldn't be so traumatic for her, I'd just drag my non-verbal frail wheelchair-bound mother down to the office and let them deal with the reality of her condition, but I can't do that to her, it might literally kill her.

If it were just the $255 widows benefit, I'd give up, but the difference between her benefit and my dad's is about $1300 and so will potentially cover a few more months of memory care before I have to move her to a medicaid facility because the money has run out.

The whole thing is just frustrating and heartbreaking. How does anyone jump through these hoops?

[Anonymous]

Just go into the office and show you have POA, or are managing the money. Very easy to do. I didn't realize I needed to do it and was just managing the money. The nursing home without telling me, became the rep payee and whenI realized it, I just went in, told them what happened, showed them paperwork that I was managing it, my BC, my marriage certificate, my husband's information as it was my MIL/how we were related and they did it.

Only issue is you need a new bank account as you as the payee and not all banks will do payee accounts.

[Anonymous]

I serve as the Representative Payee for our daughter with a disability who resides with us. It is also important to keep receipts for things you spend money on for her as well as check print out monthly check reports. She receives a rate equivalent to half of my husband's Social Security and draws on her own work account, too. As long as the balance in the checking account is kept under $2,000, you should not have a problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just go into the office and show you have POA, or are managing the money. Very easy to do. I didn't realize I needed to do it and was just managing the money. The nursing home without telling me, became the rep payee and whenI realized it, I just went in, told them what happened, showed them paperwork that I was managing it, my BC, my marriage certificate, my husband's information as it was my MIL/how we were related and they did it.

Only issue is you need a new bank account as you as the payee and not all banks will do payee accounts.

is the issue just the DC office? is there a better office to go to? they literally turned me away and refused to let me apply.

i've spent 100,000 of my own money on her memory care, in the grand scheme of things this is just noise, but i want her to have the payment she is owed because i'm running out of money i can throw at this.

[Anonymous]

This page seems to say you can go to any office. And I took a DC neighbor to the Silver Spring office for an issue that they resolved. Worth a try.


https://www.ssa.gov/ssi/text-info-ussi.htm#:~:text=We%20can%20schedule%20most%20interviews,you%20as%20quickly%20as%20possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know if things have changed due to pandemic, but social security refuses take information from me to get my mom set up for her rightful entitlement to my recently-deceased dad's social security unless I am the representative payee, and is also making it nearly impossible to become the representative payee.

(snip)

The whole thing is just frustrating and heartbreaking. How does anyone jump through these hoops?

I'm really sorry for all the red tape you went through; it sounds incredibly frustrating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just go into the office and show you have POA, or are managing the money. Very easy to do. I didn't realize I needed to do it and was just managing the money. The nursing home without telling me, became the rep payee and whenI realized it, I just went in, told them what happened, showed them paperwork that I was managing it, my BC, my marriage certificate, my husband's information as it was my MIL/how we were related and they did it.

Only issue is you need a new bank account as you as the payee and not all banks will do payee accounts.

is the issue just the DC office? is there a better office to go to? they literally turned me away and refused to let me apply.

i've spent 100,000 of my own money on her memory care, in the grand scheme of things this is just noise, but i want her to have the payment she is owed because i'm running out of money i can throw at this.

The white oak office. You need to apply for long term care Medicaid to pay for the nursing home I’d she has no money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just go into the office and show you have POA, or are managing the money. Very easy to do. I didn't realize I needed to do it and was just managing the money. The nursing home without telling me, became the rep payee and whenI realized it, I just went in, told them what happened, showed them paperwork that I was managing it, my BC, my marriage certificate, my husband's information as it was my MIL/how we were related and they did it.

Only issue is you need a new bank account as you as the payee and not all banks will do payee accounts.

is the issue just the DC office? is there a better office to go to? they literally turned me away and refused to let me apply.

i've spent 100,000 of my own money on her memory care, in the grand scheme of things this is just noise, but i want her to have the payment she is owed because i'm running out of money i can throw at this.

The white oak office. You need to apply for long term care Medicaid to pay for the nursing home I’d she has no money.

https://dhcf.dc.gov/service/long-term-care-ltc

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just go into the office and show you have POA, or are managing the money. Very easy to do. I didn't realize I needed to do it and was just managing the money. The nursing home without telling me, became the rep payee and whenI realized it, I just went in, told them what happened, showed them paperwork that I was managing it, my BC, my marriage certificate, my husband's information as it was my MIL/how we were related and they did it.

Only issue is you need a new bank account as you as the payee and not all banks will do payee accounts.

is the issue just the DC office? is there a better office to go to? they literally turned me away and refused to let me apply.

i've spent 100,000 of my own money on her memory care, in the grand scheme of things this is just noise, but i want her to have the payment she is owed because i'm running out of money i can throw at this.

The white oak office. You need to apply for long term care Medicaid to pay for the nursing home I’d she has no money.

yes, that is the plan. since my dad died i've got another year of runway to continue paying for private memory care while being on a waitlist for a facility that accepts medicaid; the increased social security payment over that year would cover a few more months. She's been on hospice for a year so really it's anyones guess how long I actually have with her, but I have to plan as if she'll still be with us in a year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just go into the office and show you have POA, or are managing the money. Very easy to do. I didn't realize I needed to do it and was just managing the money. The nursing home without telling me, became the rep payee and whenI realized it, I just went in, told them what happened, showed them paperwork that I was managing it, my BC, my marriage certificate, my husband's information as it was my MIL/how we were related and they did it.

Only issue is you need a new bank account as you as the payee and not all banks will do payee accounts.

is the issue just the DC office? is there a better office to go to? they literally turned me away and refused to let me apply.

i've spent 100,000 of my own money on her memory care, in the grand scheme of things this is just noise, but i want her to have the payment she is owed because i'm running out of money i can throw at this.

The white oak office. You need to apply for long term care Medicaid to pay for the nursing home I’d she has no money.

yes, that is the plan. since my dad died i've got another year of runway to continue paying for private memory care while being on a waitlist for a facility that accepts medicaid; the increased social security payment over that year would cover a few more months. She's been on hospice for a year so really it's anyones guess how long I actually have with her, but I have to plan as if she'll still be with us in a year.

I am not getting it. Find a bed now. It's not easy but it's doable. If she's on hospice try something like Casey House through Montgomery Hospice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just go into the office and show you have POA, or are managing the money. Very easy to do. I didn't realize I needed to do it and was just managing the money. The nursing home without telling me, became the rep payee and whenI realized it, I just went in, told them what happened, showed them paperwork that I was managing it, my BC, my marriage certificate, my husband's information as it was my MIL/how we were related and they did it.

Only issue is you need a new bank account as you as the payee and not all banks will do payee accounts.

is the issue just the DC office? is there a better office to go to? they literally turned me away and refused to let me apply.

i've spent 100,000 of my own money on her memory care, in the grand scheme of things this is just noise, but i want her to have the payment she is owed because i'm running out of money i can throw at this.

The white oak office. You need to apply for long term care Medicaid to pay for the nursing home I’d she has no money.

NP. Csn you apply for LTC Medicaid in the community, or does that have to be done with the nursing home’s financial office?