pennyquestion
Junior Member
Social Security Auxiliary Benefits and Adoption
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Ohio
I have been the payee for my son's auxiliary SSDI benefits from his biological father since around 2011. At the time his biological father was approved for these benefits, the biological father contacted my husband and I and requested that my husband adopt the child. I believe he wanted out of his large child support arrears and he was absent anyway, so we went forward with an uncontested step-parent adoption. Our son was old enough at the time to give his input and agree. The biological father paid for the lawyer who handled this. The case worker who contacted me regarding SS benefits was fully aware of the situation. I specifically asked the man if we should even proceed at all considering we would be moving forward with the adoption and I assumed benefits would stop once that was completed. What would be the point of filing for a couple months worth of payments? The man read to me from a code (this was done over phone and through mail as it was out of state) about adoption and how it didn't exclude a child from receiving benefits. He went on to say that legally the child was his dependent child at the time of the filing and therefore he was eligible. Adoption was finalized and benefits received (around $300 monthly) and fast forward a couple of years.
My husband and I purchased a house a couple of years ago and moved. I contacted the same case worker from before and sent an updated address to him via mail. Now two years later I get a call from my local office reporting they are receiving returned mail from the old address. I spoke to her on the phone, gave her the new address, and she mailed out the forms. The forms continue to list my son with his old last name so I called her today and asked her if the adoption paperwork was ever processed/filed? She states she has no record of this. I scheduled an appointment with her to go in and update this.
My question is: Has my son been receiving benefits he wasn't entitled to for the last FOUR YEARS?!? I am freaking myself out over this and what a huge deal it could actually be.
All this time I was going along assuming everything was fine but I am wondering if there was a huge mistake made and I might be repaying 4 years of benefits? Help, please. I cannot find answers to this specific situation on the SS website.
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Ohio
I have been the payee for my son's auxiliary SSDI benefits from his biological father since around 2011. At the time his biological father was approved for these benefits, the biological father contacted my husband and I and requested that my husband adopt the child. I believe he wanted out of his large child support arrears and he was absent anyway, so we went forward with an uncontested step-parent adoption. Our son was old enough at the time to give his input and agree. The biological father paid for the lawyer who handled this. The case worker who contacted me regarding SS benefits was fully aware of the situation. I specifically asked the man if we should even proceed at all considering we would be moving forward with the adoption and I assumed benefits would stop once that was completed. What would be the point of filing for a couple months worth of payments? The man read to me from a code (this was done over phone and through mail as it was out of state) about adoption and how it didn't exclude a child from receiving benefits. He went on to say that legally the child was his dependent child at the time of the filing and therefore he was eligible. Adoption was finalized and benefits received (around $300 monthly) and fast forward a couple of years.
My husband and I purchased a house a couple of years ago and moved. I contacted the same case worker from before and sent an updated address to him via mail. Now two years later I get a call from my local office reporting they are receiving returned mail from the old address. I spoke to her on the phone, gave her the new address, and she mailed out the forms. The forms continue to list my son with his old last name so I called her today and asked her if the adoption paperwork was ever processed/filed? She states she has no record of this. I scheduled an appointment with her to go in and update this.
My question is: Has my son been receiving benefits he wasn't entitled to for the last FOUR YEARS?!? I am freaking myself out over this and what a huge deal it could actually be.
All this time I was going along assuming everything was fine but I am wondering if there was a huge mistake made and I might be repaying 4 years of benefits? Help, please. I cannot find answers to this specific situation on the SS website.
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