Misuse of Social Security Funds

[Jules886]

So here's a situation.
I have been receiving my father's death benefits since January of 2013 and I am entitled to $40000 dollars under my name alone since 2013 and 2014. My mother, who was my previous representative payee, has spent $20000 on what she put on her yearly report as "beneficiary needs".
The funny thing is, she has barely provided anything. Period. She would rarely if never let me have general personal items including clothes or new shoes unless the current ones I had had holes or were falling apart. There is no tuition fee for the school I attend, I have never been to the doctor in the past two years, and I have been to the dentist 3 or 4 times in two years for regular cleanings only which are $80 per appointment.
When I moved out August of 2015, I have become the payee, but she has not told the SSA that I moved, she didn't tell them that she was no longer responsible for me, and she hasn't told them that she is no longer my payee. My mother has never told me that I would be getting any benefits at all, I had to find out all the information myself, and tell the SSA of my current situation.
She has obviously not spent $20000 solely on my well being. She has however made rather large purchases in recent years. First, she has spent money on a 7 day trip to Waikiki, Hawaii with her husband, who is not of any relation to me or my legal guardian, he has bought a new motorcycle. He has never just dropped a sum of money to buy a vehicle before and my mother has recently bought a 2013 Mazda CX-9 which is worth $19 - $20k.
She has also never told me that I have health insurance or any insurance for that matter. I have gone to the Social Security office and filed a statement of misuse of funds.

What do you think? I could use some opinions.

 

[FlyingRon]

Why is it that you have a representative payee? Are you a minor?
Paying for your food and clothing and shelter is authorized. They should be keeping a reasoanble accounting and perserving any money not spent.
Most minors have no idea what actual living expenses are.

 

[Jules886]

Why is it that you have a representative payee? Are you a minor?
Paying for your food and clothing and shelter is authorized. They should be keeping a reasoanble accounting and perserving any money not spent.
Most minors have no idea what actual living expenses are.

No I am not a minor, but that was the reason why I had a representative payee. I am currently the payee of my benefits as of last month. I realize that those factors are authorized but I didn't receive any new clothing. We didn't go out to get groceries a lot either. I have also found out that a beneficiary's ss funds can be used as the down payment and a reasonable share of the monthly payments on a house owned wholly or in part by the beneficiary. And my name was not on the mortgage or house ownership statement.

 

[Onderzoek]

I think that there is quite a lot of misuse or improper use by many representative payees but also it is pretty hard to prove and even then, difficult to recover the misused funds.

Payees are required to 'account' for use of the funds, but the accounting process is primarily asking them a few questions on a form and as long as the answers don't require second contact, then the payee accounting is considered complete without a single shred of evidence to back up the answers on the forms. Now it is the good payees who are diligent in their payee accountings and keep awesome records. There aren't too many of those. Adequate payees may not keep good records, but their method of managing the money is clear and the recipient is satisfied with the payee.

Then there are the others. They say they spend the money on the recipient, but cannot provide proof since all transactions are cash. The recipient says that money was not spent on them although they did get housing and food but they can't say how much was spent on those things either. Then there are the payees who take the recipient's funds, especially minor children, and add it to the household income and then just pay bills that arise. And they also cannot say how much of the recipient's money is spent on any one item. Let's say there is one SSI child in a household. Does that child get the new shoes, the new clothes, the larger serving of food while the other children (who have no income of their own) don't get those things? It is clear that having a child on SSI in a household benefits ALL family members. A sad commentary, but true.

Even when a payee is determined to have misused money, unless they volunteer to make restitution or are getting an SSI or SSDI check themselves, there is often no method of enforcing recovery.

If the OP's mother is a bit of a bum or a thief, it is unlikely that SSA will be able to prove misuse, let alone collect it back. Possible, unlikely.

 

[LdiJ]

I think that there is quite a lot of misuse or improper use by many representative payees but also it is pretty hard to prove and even then, difficult to recover the misused funds.

Payees are required to 'account' for use of the funds, but the accounting process is primarily asking them a few questions on a form and as long as the answers don't require second contact, then the payee accounting is considered complete without a single shred of evidence to back up the answers on the forms. Now it is the good payees who are diligent in their payee accountings and keep awesome records. There aren't too many of those. Adequate payees may not keep good records, but their method of managing the money is clear and the recipient is satisfied with the payee.

Then there are the others. They say they spend the money on the recipient, but cannot provide proof since all transactions are cash. The recipient says that money was not spent on them although they did get housing and food but they can't say how much was spent on those things either. Then there are the payees who take the recipient's funds, especially minor children, and add it to the household income and then just pay bills that arise. And they also cannot say how much of the recipient's money is spent on any one item. Let's say there is one SSI child in a household. Does that child get the new shoes, the new clothes, the larger serving of food while the other children (who have no income of their own) don't get those things? It is clear that having a child on SSI in a household benefits ALL family members. A sad commentary, but true.

Even when a payee is determined to have misused money, unless they volunteer to make restitution or are getting an SSI or SSDI check themselves, there is often no method of enforcing recovery.

If the OP's mother is a bit of a bum or a thief, it is unlikely that SSA will be able to prove misuse, let alone collect it back. Possible, unlikely.

If think that this was an irresponsible answer because it gives the OP a completely false sense of how things really work.

Its very easy to determine the recipient's share of the household expenses. You simply divide the householdd expenses by the number of people in the home, and you know exactly what the recipient's share is of those expenses...and then there are all the other details of life on top of that.

I think that its quite possible that the OP is going to get his hat handed to him in regards to his complaint of misuse of funds.

 

[Onderzoek]

If think that this was an irresponsible answer because it gives the OP a completely false sense of how things really work.

Its very easy to determine the recipient's share of the household expenses. You simply divide the householdd expenses by the number of people in the home, and you know exactly what the recipient's share is of those expenses...and then there are all the other details of life on top of that.

I think that its quite possible that the OP is going to get his hat handed to him in regards to his complaint of misuse of funds.

People who pay all bills with cash have a hard time proving anything. Receipts from a store don't prove that money was necessarily spent on an individual person.

It is easy to determine share of expenses when people hold on to documents and write checks which create a paper trail. Not everyone does that.

 

[LdiJ]

People who pay all bills with cash have a hard time proving anything. Receipts from a store don't prove that money was necessarily spent on an individual person.

It is easy to determine share of expenses when people hold on to documents and write checks which create a paper trail. Not everyone does that.

Depends on what the receipt is for. If someone spends 200.00 at the grocery store for food and sundries its pretty clear that benefits the entire household.