OP
OP
SecondCor521
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
I spoke with her this afternoon.
We're on a much better relationship footing now I think. I apologized for saying some things as fact to her last night which might have not been correct. I offered to help but made it clear that it is her option to whether to accept that help or not and that we'd be friends regardless.
I did have the timing off. She turned 18 in the summer after her junior year of high school and then left high school in the fall of her senior year in November when she was about 18 1/2. It sounds like the overpayments are from that November onward.
It also sounds like what happened is that she got a full time job, and Social Security flagged the situation because her job was paying into Social Security via her regular paycheck.
The overpayment amount is about $2K, which I'm guessing represents the handful of months between when she left school in November and the SS computers sent a notice and things got straightened out.
She does have the letter from Social Security, and she did say it had her name on it. It sounds like she's willing to let me read it. I've offered to go to the SS office tomorrow with her and get her questions answered.
...
@ivinsfan, without disparaging her parents, I recommended that she go to the SS office to verify with them how much was paid out and when so that she can just get the facts from them and not just from her parents...miscommunications and misunderstandings can happen when the telephone game is played: SS -> parents -> kid. And I think the parents are asking her to repay SS directly.
...
It does sound like the SS would let her set up an installment plan if she wanted or needed to.
It does sound like SS can claw back the benefit from her, from her rep payee (probably her father), and possibly from her brother too if he received similar auxiliary benefits during that time (see "contingent liability" at https://oig-files.ssa.gov/audits/full/A-04-16-50110.pdf).
There is an interesting wrinkle - she might not be liable for repayment:
"SSA POMS states that, in certain situations, SSA will not presume the overpaid childhood beneficiary is equally liable for repaying an overpayment. POMS also states that SSA will not presume equal liability if the available facts when SSA discovers the overpayment negate such a presumption. For example, a childhood beneficiary is not liable when a representative payee misuses benefits, receives benefits after the beneficiary’s death, or is overpaid because the entitled child is no longer in his/her care. In these situations, the representative payee is solely liable for repaying the overpayment."
I don't know if any of the above apply to her circumstances, but it may be worth asking. (Yes, even if her rep payee is solely responsible, family dynamics may still end up with her chipping in some amount.)
We're on a much better relationship footing now I think. I apologized for saying some things as fact to her last night which might have not been correct. I offered to help but made it clear that it is her option to whether to accept that help or not and that we'd be friends regardless.
I did have the timing off. She turned 18 in the summer after her junior year of high school and then left high school in the fall of her senior year in November when she was about 18 1/2. It sounds like the overpayments are from that November onward.
It also sounds like what happened is that she got a full time job, and Social Security flagged the situation because her job was paying into Social Security via her regular paycheck.
The overpayment amount is about $2K, which I'm guessing represents the handful of months between when she left school in November and the SS computers sent a notice and things got straightened out.
She does have the letter from Social Security, and she did say it had her name on it. It sounds like she's willing to let me read it. I've offered to go to the SS office tomorrow with her and get her questions answered.
...
@ivinsfan, without disparaging her parents, I recommended that she go to the SS office to verify with them how much was paid out and when so that she can just get the facts from them and not just from her parents...miscommunications and misunderstandings can happen when the telephone game is played: SS -> parents -> kid. And I think the parents are asking her to repay SS directly.
...
It does sound like the SS would let her set up an installment plan if she wanted or needed to.
It does sound like SS can claw back the benefit from her, from her rep payee (probably her father), and possibly from her brother too if he received similar auxiliary benefits during that time (see "contingent liability" at https://oig-files.ssa.gov/audits/full/A-04-16-50110.pdf).
There is an interesting wrinkle - she might not be liable for repayment:
"SSA POMS states that, in certain situations, SSA will not presume the overpaid childhood beneficiary is equally liable for repaying an overpayment. POMS also states that SSA will not presume equal liability if the available facts when SSA discovers the overpayment negate such a presumption. For example, a childhood beneficiary is not liable when a representative payee misuses benefits, receives benefits after the beneficiary’s death, or is overpaid because the entitled child is no longer in his/her care. In these situations, the representative payee is solely liable for repaying the overpayment."
I don't know if any of the above apply to her circumstances, but it may be worth asking. (Yes, even if her rep payee is solely responsible, family dynamics may still end up with her chipping in some amount.)
