SSI and adult children

[compassion]

This is why there is a bboming businessin our town in attorneys to help get SSI.
I did successfully get SSI_D for my daughter -applied when she was in long term hospital. However, when she came out, she was considered living with us. In reality, she has and is not even though we do support her. She is 16 and I woud like to get the $672 I think that is what it is:it would help with the rent and a little bit for her and also she couold get food stamps. It is just a lot of hoops to jump though and I have chosen to not do it. I am grateful for he private insurance we have. I got the name of an attorney from NAMI but have not followed up with it.

 

[Fran]

Thanks for the info risnights. I refuse to be difficult child's payee. I provide oversight but I can not be responsible for his spending. I go along to be difficult child's memory and help him keep track. difficult child is and has been to the office on his own.

I do understand that SSDI is a completely different and the rules are not so invasive. He has not paid into that system yet. He has never worked a full 40hr week without disasterous results.

risnights, your info is pretty much how I felt about this situation. It's basically a "free" handout. I am not at all pleased that difficult child is on this but he has not proven he can hold a job due to his very serious learning disabilities and difficulty with dealing with the general public, but we are working on getting him out of the program.

Because he does not have a payee he should be treated as an independent adult who rents a room from a relative.
Our finances are not any of their business but they are able to acquire it easily enough because.. well they can.

I don't want difficult child to have anything that he shouldn't have but he should have what he qualifies for.

risnights thank you for the clearer explanation. Part of the problem is that the wording in their letters is difficult to decipher.

Compassion, good luck. difficult child hasn't had the full amount for quite a while. It was reduced by 1/3 last year. In addition they have reduced it further due to this overpayment when he worked part time out of state.

Oh well, being treated as a criminal must be the norm. I will work harder at keeping records for difficult child although I don't really want to be that involved. He doesn't have 1 pay stub. He is oblivious that he had to keep them. You would think the program would have worked with him about those things.

I just get so frustrated that I seem to be accountable for things others including difficult child are supposed to be responsible for.

Thanks again everyone for the info and support.
The pencil neck hopefully is the anomaly and the rest are decent people who are trying to help weed through the rules.

 

[rlsnights]

SSA's letters are meant to be clear but they are often too vague to be really helpful or they are steeped in regulatory language that is less than clear.

That's why I point people to their website and make sure you understand that you can always call SSA.

We are not payees for our son because we do not want to be in the position of deciding what he gets when. But he is truly incapable at any level of managing his funds and SSA requires that he have an institutional payee, which is a very good thing from our point of view.

You may want to consider having your difficult child try using an institutional payee. He can always stop if it is not working out. These programs are often part of a comprehensive support program and provide structure without really controlling what the beneficiary does with much of their benefit. They make sure the beneficiary brings them bills for housing and utilities, usually hold back a small sum for emergencies or changes in basic costs and decide with the beneficiary if the rest of their benefit will go to them in one lump sum at the start of the month or will be distributed differently say weekly in equal amounts.

If he had had a payee I doubt he would be in the fix he is now regarding the past wages because as soon as he reported to them that he was employed they would have been on him like a hawk to get them a copy of his pay stubs and helped him report the income to SSA.

Finally, he should definitely request a negotiation on the amount of his benefit is being withheld due to the overpayment issue.

The 1/3 for housing is pretty much non-negotiable once he reaches the threshhold for that level of deduction.

If it has been more than 65 days since they issued the notice about the overpayment, it is too late to appeal that decision. If it has been less than 65 days then you can appeal it based on CFR 20 ss 416.550 - 556.

While it may be too late to appeal the overpayment determination, the amount of overpayment deductionmay be negotiable (despite what SSA may have implied about the set 10% deduction). See CFR 20 ss 416.571 for the specific language. He may also want to consider increasing the amount being deducted so he can pay the money back quickly and get his full benefit sooner.

You may want to check with SSA about whether drawing up a rental agreement would change the manner in which they deem his housing costs to be sure that they will accept the rental agreement. Remember it must be based on current local market rents.

If so, I would draw up the rental agreement and then request a reduction in the monthly overpayment deduction at the same time he notifies them of the change in his housing costs.

SSA has the same powers as the IRS to seize property and wages and will use that power if they decide someone is attempting fraud. On the other hand, if you tell them what's going on in advance or promptly you will usually find that they will help you understand the applicable rules and try to find a way to work things out without penalizing you. There are several different generous programs that SSA has to help SSI beneficiaries go back to work. You may also want to familiarize yourself with these programs to see if any of them would be helpful to your difficult child.

Good luck.

 

[DammitJanet]

Yes, I am Cory's Payee...something I really wish I wasnt since he is fully able to do on his own and was doing on his own before they changed him from SSI to SSDI but anyway....I make sure if he works at all it is reported right away and when he moves, it is reported right away along with the new rent.

They have done a bang up job of messing him up in their system with a change over from one form of SSDI to another form of SSDI which actually deleted one SSDI...omg...you wouldnt believe how much trouble...it still isnt fixed. Hospital bills and doctors bills are unpaid. No one can figure it out even though I have a medicare card in my possession...lol. Its a nightmare. You really need a degree in medicare to go through this system.

 

[compassion]

rlsnights, Is there a limitation to apply for past medicaid bills? We paid out of pocket for difficult child Residential Treatment Center (RTC). We were told once she had ssi AND GOT MEDICAID would be elgible for retroactive payments. The Residential Treatment Center (RTC) stay was Fe.B-mAY. i APPLIED THE DAY SHE WENT TO Residential Treatment Center (RTC). cOMPASSIION

 

[rlsnights]

The medical bills issue is MediCaid - not SSA. Separate systems.

You need to call the welfare office where you applied for MediCaid for her and ask to submit her past medical bills. Usually the rule here in CA is that they will pay bills back 3 months from date of approval depending on a bunch of different rules.

If she was approved as of the date you applied then you should be able to get some reimbursement. But it may not be what you paid since MediCaid might have a different rate. And I am not qualified to say whether they will pay if it was a facility that is not contracted with MediCaid.

Best thing is to just ask them about it directly. You may be able to get some guidance about how to submit the claim from the Residential Treatment Center (RTC) too.

 

[compassion]

Thanks,rslnihgts. It is a Medicaid facility. You are right. They are seperate systems. I was told I needed to get SSI first and then medicaid is a given. I have an ap online, just need to go back to it every once in awhile. Compassion.

 

[SearchingForRainbows]

Fran,

Thank you very much for posting this. Unfortunately, at some point in the not too distant future, I think difficult child 2 will have to apply for SSI. Reading about the "garbage" you are currently going through with your difficult child, is an eye-opening experience for me.

It absolutely infuriates me that your personal financial information should play a part in your adult difficult child's SSI. It also infuriates me more than I can express in words, that just because we're the parents of difficult children, our lives become an open book.

By sharing this "garbage" with us, I now have a clearer picture of what needs to be done to help difficult child 2. Hopefully I won't be as naive as I would have been when it is my turn to deal with all of this.

I'm so sorry you had to put up with that "pencil neck.!!!" SFR

 

[katya02]

This is about to become a major headache for us .... difficult child has applied for SSI while living at his girlfriend's place, and now the girlfriend's mother is about to toss difficult child out on the street. The mother has apparently been gaming SSI, the foodstamps people, and just about every other program for years and when she heard that difficult child had applied for SSI she freaked. She's told him that now she'll be sent to jail and have to pay back multi-thousands, and it's all his fault. Hm. I can't seem to dredge up any sympathy ...

But the issue is that he's probably about to be bounced into the street in our tiny, extremely low-homeless-housing-option town. In spite of all his past declarations about how he could never live here again, I know he'll be thinking our basement looks better than the snowbank (and it does, of course ). If we have to report all our expenses, though, I can't imagine how it would work. We don't have a mortgage but have heavy expenses otherwise. difficult child wouldn't have a hope of contributing 1/3 of the monthly expenses. He gets $205 per month total income right now. The idea that they demand to know all expenses, rather than wanting to see proof of what he pays, doesn't make sense to me.

 

[Nomad]

Your difficult child can not work full time.
My guess is working part time is a very difficult task requiring significant support.
The govt should be grateful for all you do.
I do understand that they have been hurt by unscrupulous folks, but you are NOT one of them.
I say, defend yourself and your difficult child and seek the advice of an attorney.
This is nutso...and I'm so sorry for it all.
Thank you again for your post.