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Social Security Disability Payments and Representative Payees
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When a Social Security disability beneficiary is a minor child or legally incompetent adult, the Social Security Administration (SSA) will select a representative payee to manage the beneficiary's disability payments. A representative payee, who can be either an individual or an organization, is charged with the responsibility of disbursing the funds for the beneficiary's present needs and saving any remaining funds for the future. Payment of the beneficiary's "needs" should include food, clothing, shelter, utilities, dental and medical care, and personal comfort items.
In addition to managing the beneficiary's funds, the representative payee must keep a record of the funds received and disbursed and submit a written report to the SSA concerning how the disability funds were used. Another responsibility that falls on the shoulders of the representative payee is to keep the SSA informed of any circumstances that could affect the beneficiary's eligibility to receive disability funds or that could affect the representative payee's ability to serve as such.
An individual representative payee cannot charge the beneficiary a fee for his services, although an organization can if authorized to do so by the SSA. Individual representative payees, though unable to charge a fee, may still be reimbursed for their out-of-pocket expenses incurred on the beneficiary's behalf. Copyright 2009 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.
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