Social Sec. benefits for stepdaughter

My husband, who has received Social Security benefits for over a year, got a letter yesterday saying that my daughter (his stepdaughter) is not eligible to receive benefits through him anymore. He had applied for her to receive benefits after the lady at our local SS office said that all of his children, plus his stepdaughter, were eligible. SS is now requesting that we pay back ALL of the benefits paid to her since last year!

When he called SS, they said it had to do with whether he "supported" her or not. The SS person asked if child support on her is paid from her dad (yes) and then asked, "Do you get along with your ex-wife?" which we thought was an odd question.

My husband plans to appeal this, but why would SS take away these benefits if they originally said she was eligible for them? Could his ex-wife have filed some sort of request for SS to reconsider his stepdaughter's benefits? Should we see a lawyer?

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by ann42:
[b]My husband, who has received Social Security benefits for over a year, got a letter yesterday saying that my daughter (his stepdaughter) is not eligible to receive benefits through him anymore. He had applied for her to receive benefits after the lady at our local SS office said that all of his children, plus his stepdaughter, were eligible. SS is now requesting that we pay back ALL of the benefits paid to her since last year!

When he called SS, they said it had to do with whether he "supported" her or not. The SS person asked if child support on her is paid from her dad (yes) and then asked, "Do you get along with your ex-wife?" which we thought was an odd question.

My husband plans to appeal this, but why would SS take away these benefits if they originally said she was eligible for them? Could his ex-wife have filed some sort of request for SS to reconsider his stepdaughter's benefits? Should we see a lawyer?[/b]<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


His ex wife probably did just as you suspect. My understanding is that each child is given XX amount of $$$ per month not to exceed 150% of the disabled persons benefits. So if your daughter(the step daughter) is receiving benefits based on his disability she (his ex) is not getting as much in benefits for their children that she would if your daughter wasnt receiving payments.

I went ahead and looked up the requirements for a stepchild to receive disability benefits and this is what I came up with:

331. Stepchild-stepparent relationship.
IN GENERAL, A STEPCHILD-STEPPARENT RELATIONSHIP ARISES WHEN the worker:

Marries the child's natural parent; or
Marries the child's adopting parent after the adoption.
If the stepparent dies, there is no termination of a child's existing entitlement to stepchild's benefits. However, if the child's parent and stepparent obtain a final divorce in or after 7/96, the child's existing entitlement to stepchild's benefits will terminate the month after the month in which the divorce becomes final.

A stepchild must have been a stepchild of the parent on whose Social Security record the claim for benefits is filed for at least 1 year before the day the child's application is filed if the parent is alive.

To qualify for survivors benefits, a stepchild must have been the stepchild of the insured worker for at least 9 months immediately preceding the day on which the worker died, unless the worker and the child's natural or adopting parent were previously married, divorced, and then remarried at the time of the worker's death, and the 9-month duration-of-relationship requirement was met at the time of the divorce. If the death of the worker was accidental or occurred in the line of duty while a member of a uniformed service serving on active duty, the 9-month requirement may be considered satisfied, unless at the time of the marriage, the worker could not have been expected to live for 9 months. (See §404 for an explanation of the exception to the 9-month duration-of-marriage requirement.) The evidence required to establish the relationships described above is set forth in §§1707-1717.

You can find this info yourself at:
[url="http://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/handbook/handbook.03/hbk-0331.htm"]http://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/handbook/handbook.03/hbk-0331.htm[/url]

[This message has been edited by Invisible Blonde (edited November 09, 2000).]

[This message has been edited by Invisible Blonde (edited November 09, 2000).]