What is the responsibilities of a Representative Payee

0:21 Good day everyone, and welcome to another edition of Q and A Social Security Disability Today. I am your host, attorney Anthony Reeves. Let's get to your questions. What are my responsibilities as a representative pay Okay, this comes up a little bit more with kids than anything else, but just we're gonna look at its totality. For some odd reason, if it's a child, or maybe it's somebody who has the problems, social Security has determined that the person who is entitled to receive disability benefits should not handle their own funds. It can be for a variety of reasons, but whatever the case may be, they have decided that someone needs to handle funds on behalf of that individual.

1:02 This person is referred to as a representative paye they have. It's in the legal sense or in the financial sense. It is called fiduciary responsibility. In other words, it's this nice way of saying you are accepting the responsibility for maintaining the finances of a third party, the claimant. Now, this is one of the things that I tell people all the time. First, always remember, if you're going to accept the responsibility of a representative paye, you are agreeing to accept monies on behalf of a third party and to be used for their benefit. That's the first of all.

1:41 Second of all, remember these are federal funds, and say, from your partner around the corner, this is money that the federal government is entrusting you on behalf of the third party. Third, before you accept the responsibility and representative paye, ask the Social Security Administration what documentation requirements you need to maintain. Do you need to keep track of the moneies that are being spent? Do you need to keep copies of the receipts of the money being spent. That's the third thing, because you don't want to be in a situation where you're thinking I'm just going to get the checker just handing over to them. They want you to do things like handle paying their bills, make sure that they get food. That's why they're giving you this

2:18 responsibility for. If you don't know all of your responsibility, ask Social Security tell them that yeah, don't mind, because you tell me what I can and what I can't do, so this way you can make sure everything is set up appropriately. And then finally, your last step five. Remember if at any point in time, the claimant has a reason to believe that you are not handling the money and their best interest. They have a right to notify Social Security, who can make a determination of whether or not that's true, and they can choose to remove you as representative pay you. So keep those things in mind.

2:53 It's not a daunting task as it may seem. You're basically paying someone else's bills with their money. You just need to be very cautious about how you're doing this because remember, you're the person who's receiving disability is receiving. You're receiving their money. It's not yours. You're receiving it on their behalf. Be careful this and I usually tell this more with my parents. Be careful. When you are spending money that you're receiving for your children, you need to ensure it's on their behalf. Be careful, be careful.

3:24 So if you decide that, oh, man, I got this big lumps of the money, I want to buy a flat screen TV. So Security is going to ask you, how does that flat screen TV benefit that child? If it doesn't, you could be in a lot of trouble. Same thing you decide, oh, I'm going to get me some brand new carpeting. They're going to ask you what does that carpeting have to do with the benefit of the claimant. If you cannot justify that, you put yourself in potential trouble with the federal government. Don't make it harder than what it is. If you don't know, ask THO Security. They'll lay it out for you. And most importantly, if you don't feel comfortable with the responsibility the Social Security is asking you to handle on half of the claimant,

4:03 do not accept the position. It's really that simple. Again, my name is Attorney Anthony Reeves. As always, I love to have your questions, keep them coming, and I love your comments as well. I'm forward seeing you again next time. This is yours Social Security