question re: non-custodial parent on disability

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Tennessee

My H recently gained custody of his 7yo daughter. The Mother has not worked in about 3 years, and has applied for disability. This has been denied twice already, and now she has an attorney and is going to court after the first of the year (according to the Mother).

Due to the fact that the Mother was not working, and had no income, the Judge did not order any child support. That is fine with us; we had been able to provide for SD's needs and pay support until recently. But, we are sure if Mom gets disability, she will use her settlement money to come after us to regain custody of her daughter.

My question is this: I have been told disability is figured based on family size. If Mom gets disability approved, will she also draw for her daughter, and should she be liable for support at that time? Someone told me that a portion of her disability could be sent directly to my husband for the support of their daughter. My thinking is she will have it sent to her, and then use the money against us, instead of to take care of her daughter, which is what it is intended for.

Does anybody have any experience with how this works? I honestly don't know what to expect.

You were told wrong about disability being figured based on family size.

If she gets SS Disability, what she gets is based on the number of years she worked, and how much she's paid in over those years. Now... there is a "familiy" amount that a disabled person's children can "draw" off of every month, just like the disabled parent. This applies only if there is enough in the family cap to support the child getting benefits off the parent's record. For example:

The family cap amount for the mother is $1500 a month.
She gets $1000 a month for herself, based on her earnings.
The child is entitled to $500 a month (500 for the child, plus 1000 for the mother, = 1500, which is the family cap amount).

If, however, the family cap amount is low, and the mother's benefits amount to the entire "family" benefit, then there is no money left for the child to get a benefit of the mother's record. For example:

The family cap amount is $500 a month.
The mother's benefit is $500 a month.
Then, the dependant benefit will be $0 a month, as the mother is getting the maximum family benefit herself.

This scenario happens for people that haven't earned much over the years. It happened to me. I get less than $500 a month in SS, and my family benefit amount is the same as what I get. My children don't get a benefit off my record each month.

Since your husband is the CP of the child, then if the child is entitled to any benefit, HE would be the representative payee for the child, not the NCP mother. I know that because I'm an NCP mother myself, and when I enquired about the answer to that same question to the SSA, that was the answer I was given. Well.. I'm the CP to one of my and my ex's children, he's the CP to 2. I'd get the benefit for the one child I'm CP of, he'd get the benefit for the 2 he's the CP of. But, since my children don't get a benefit off my record because it's so low, that point was moot. I did ask though, before I was approved... for my own peace of mind.

You should also know that if the mother is entitled to back benefits... AND the child is entitled to monthly benefits off of her record... then the "settlement" (back benefits) she gets would also apply to the child. In other words, the child would be eligible for benefits as far back as the mother is. For example:

She applied a year and a half ago and has been trying to get benefits all this time. If she's granted disability, her benefits will go "back" X number of months. Using my first example above where the mother gets $1000 a month in benefits and the child gets $500... if they give the mother 12 months of back benefits, she'd get $12,000 in "backpay" (12 x 1,000) and the child would be eligible to get $6,000 in "backpay" (12 x 500). The father is the CP, so those benefits would come in HIS name, as payee for the child.

What she "uses" the back benefits for (such as for taking your husband back to court) doesn't really concern the SSA as long as she can show that she used them for her benefit. And that's "IF" the SSA asks for her to show what they were used for. They normally don't.

SS Disability 'can' be garnished for support. However, if a parent is on disability the court doesn't usually order that parent to pay support. If there is a prior order though, it "may" be garnished to pay the child support. IN some states, any benefit the child gets off the NCP's record is used to offset the ordered CS amount. Another example for you:

If she's been ordered to pay $300 a month in CS, and the child draws $250 a month off the mother's record, that leaves a "balance owed" for CS of $50 a month if the $250 offsets the $300. That all depends on your state though.

Everything I've mentioned above though changes if the mother gets SSI and not SSD. SSI can NOT be garnished, at all. With SSI there are no dependant benefits, so her child wouldn't be able to draw any monthly amount, at all. SSI and SSD are 2 different programs, with different rules. What I said above this paragraph about dependant benefits will ONLY apply if she gets SSD.

Hope this helps you, and isn't too confusing.

Thanks for all your input! I know next to nothing about disability benefits, so any information was extremely helpful.

I know we cannot control how BM spends the money (if she gets it), but would like a "little leverage" by telling her if she tries to go back to court, then H will be coming after her for child support. Maybe that will hold her at bay, just knowing she could lose a part of the benefit. As far as H getting part of the "settlement", he has only been the custodial parent since September, so that is probably a moot point. She just keeps telling SD "when I get my disability, we're gonna' do everything!", so I am sure file for custody will be one of them.