WHAT IS A "REPRESENTATIVE PAYEE"?

When a claimant has a physical or mental impairment that might prevent them from handling their own benefits, Social Security may require a "Representative Payee." This is a third party who will receive the claimant's Social Security payments, then dole the money out to the claimant in an appropriate manner. So, the benefits do not go directly to the claimant, but to the representative payee.

The representative payee may be a spouse, family member, or some other person not necessarily related to the claimant. It is the responsibility of the Social Security Administration to decide (1) Does the claimant need a representative payee? and (2) Who will be the representative payee?

In some cases, a Social Security beneficiary may have a severe physical or mental illness, have a serious drug or alcohol addiction--and may need a representative payee. But this is certainly not always the case.

Why to Avoid Representative Payees if Possible

Unless it is absolutely necessary, I recommend you avoid having a Rep Payee. I've seen all kinds of abuse by Rep Payees (RP). Sometimes the RP uses the Social Security money for their own needs or desires and the claimant suffers. The claimant is pretty much at the mercy of the RP when he/she wants or needs money. While there is theoretically accountability by the Social Security Administration, there is little RP supervision in reality. If the claimant complains about his/her RP, it can take a long time to get a response from Social Security, and they may never give the claimant a satisfactory resolution to the problem.

There have been attempts by the US Government to use the need for a representative payee to restrict other rights, such as gun ownership. The theory is that if an individual is not able to handle his/her own finances and needs an RP, they are not able to handle a gun responsibly. This is, of course, a ridiculous assumption. Just because someone can't make sound financial judgments --or can't go the grocery store alone--doesn't mean that they are dangerous. The very fact that a clerk in the Social Security office can decide to take away an individual's constitutionalrights is ridiculous. This is not currently the practice, but it has been attempted by liberals in the US Congress. And the issue is not going away. It will be tried again, and again. So, avoid using a Rep Payee if you can. You're just better off without one.

Who knows? Perhaps one day some Social Security employee may get to decide that a person using a representative payee is not safe to fly on an airplane, or board a cruise ship, or exercise some other basic right. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but leftists in the Government have already shown their hand. The decision to deny someone their constitutional rights should belong to an official higher than a Social Security employee who conducts a ten minute interview with the claimant over the phone! At least give me a judge!

Part of our job is to help you protect your rights as we help you get disability benefits.