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Disabled Son Entitled To Dad's Pension Benefits?

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morphous12

Junior Member
What is the name of your state?I am in California. I am a developmentally disabled person. My father is retired, married, and currently living in Gettysburg, Pennsylvannia. The woman he is married to is my stepmother. My real mother died a few years ago. I have not seen my dad in 3 years. We have not been talking lately. I feel he is avoiding me or is unable to contact me. Before my mother died, she told me that I would be entitled to my father's pension benefits. My father has earned pension benefits from his years employed with the police department in Pennsylvannia. My father's health is deteriorating and my stepmother may be interested in keeping his entire pension benefits. Am I entitled to my father's pension benefits? If so, how do I go about getting to what I am entitled to? I would greatly appreciate help with this matter. :)
 


rmet4nzkx

Senior Member
morphous12 said:
What is the name of your state?I am in California. I am a developmentally disabled person. My father is retired, married, and currently living in Gettysburg, Pennsylvannia. The woman he is married to is my stepmother. My real mother died a few years ago. I have not seen my dad in 3 years. We have not been talking lately. I feel he is avoiding me or is unable to contact me. Before my mother died, she told me that I would be entitled to my father's pension benefits. My father has earned pension benefits from his years employed with the police department in Pennsylvannia. My father's health is deteriorating and my stepmother may be interested in keeping his entire pension benefits. Am I entitled to my father's pension benefits? If so, how do I go about getting to what I am entitled to? I would greatly appreciate help with this matter. :)
Contact your caseworker at the regional center for assistance with this matter and you might also call protection and advocacy http://www.pai-ca.org/ 1-800-776-5746 to find out what your rights are and how to access them.
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
But whether or not you are entitled to any part of the pension benefits depends, for the most part, on what option your father has selected for survivor benefits. It's not like when someone dies intestate and all surviving dependents are automatically entitled to a share. When your father applied for his pension he was required to select a survivor option; whatever he selected at that time, goes.
 

rmet4nzkx

Senior Member
cbg said:
But whether or not you are entitled to any part of the pension benefits depends, for the most part, on what option your father has selected for survivor benefits. It's not like when someone dies intestate and all surviving dependents are automatically entitled to a share. When your father applied for his pension he was required to select a survivor option; whatever he selected at that time, goes.
It isn't as simple as that, that is why I made the referals I did, this is a dd child/adult, the term pension may mean something different to them than to you. They are already entitled to some social security benefits from their mother, on the other hand, their social security benefits SSDI/SSI may be different from their father as well as access to medical insurance to which they would be entitled beyond majority owing to the DD. There may be other issues to be resolved beyond what might seem to be a simple pension question, depending on whether or not the DD child/adult became qualified as disabled before 18. If there is a special needs trust it makes a difference if it was made before 1999 or after. That is why they need the assistance of their casemanager, PAI advocate and/or their guardian.
 

rmet4nzkx

Senior Member
cbg said:
And where did I say that he shouldn't contact his caseworker?
No you didn't, but without continual referal to the correct advocates, OP may lose focus. It may have been too much information to be processed and OP may have tried or not to persue this issue on their own without advocacy by their appropriate advocate and/or guardian. These issues are very complex even with the best representation. Hopefully OP has some relationship with their father, that will make this issue easier to resolve. Often these issues are not addressed until too late.
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
Well, thank you for explaining it to me. I'm so glad you're here to teach me everything I've never learned in twenty five years of HR.
 

rmet4nzkx

Senior Member
cbg said:
Well, thank you for explaining it to me. I'm so glad you're here to teach me everything I've never learned in twenty five years of HR.
It has nothing with your expertise, it has more to do with the realities of dealing with a number of laws and regulations not related to HR. I have seen too many cases of after fighting to gain rights for a DD adult, only to have them all vanish because the DD adult made an uninformed decision in the absense of their advocate. Cases involving divorced parents can be particularly complex. Some people don't like that they have casemanagers and advocates there to help them and protect their rights but it is important to reenforce that means of access no matter the referal.

I'm just sensitive having been burned a few times after a lot of hard work.
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
Well, maybe you should apply some of that sensitivity to your own tone. I don't mind someone pointing out things I miss; no one is going to get every possibility and there are always different sides to a situtation. But you come across very condescending and I very much resent that. This is by no means the first time you've come across sounding like you're patiently teaching me what I'm too slow to understand on my own. I realize that you don't intend it that way but it's irritating all the same.
 

morphous12

Junior Member
thanks

thank you. i appreciate the assistance. it will help me get started. i will contact my regional center counselor and protection and advocacy.

:)
 

rmet4nzkx

Senior Member
morphous12 said:
thank you. i appreciate the assistance. it will help me get started. i will contact my regional center counselor and protection and advocacy.

:)
Also talk to your father and ask about a special needs trust, these must be approved by social security unless they were set up before 1999 as the rules have changed.
 

rmet4nzkx

Senior Member
cbg said:
Well, maybe you should apply some of that sensitivity to your own tone. I don't mind someone pointing out things I miss; no one is going to get every possibility and there are always different sides to a situtation. But you come across very condescending and I very much resent that. This is by no means the first time you've come across sounding like you're patiently teaching me what I'm too slow to understand on my own. I realize that you don't intend it that way but it's irritating all the same.
I'm sorry :eek:
Ms. Cupcake
 

rmet4nzkx

Senior Member
OK, BTW sensitivity was in terms of confidentiality not emotional sensitivity, things that would have been discussed in a PM not on a public forum.

Can't draw a line in the sand it would wash away, been raining like crazy since last night out here! A HAPPY FACE will do. :)
Ms. Cupcake
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
Careful of that storm. I've got the Weather Channel on and it looks like a doozy. :)
 

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