What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Indiana
My 15 year old daughter receives Survivor Benefits for the death of her mother. I am her father, her legal guardian, and payee for her accounts. I have banked every penny of the money received. My wife and I are rather well off, and don't need it for day-to-day income. Recently, the maternal grandmother went to her high school, caught her on her way to the bus, and requested to my daughter to sign some papers - in a rather big hurry. Being 15, she didn't look at the papers, and signed away. I then received a letter from the Social Security office stating the payments are to be stopped to me, that the social security office found that I am incompetent to be the payee, and awarded my 15 year old daughter full payment of her benefits, which amount to around $800 a month. She has to have an account for them to be deposited into, so fortunately the grandmother co-signed a joint account. The grandmother is broke, and a real nut-case. It is my belief she intends to steal the money from my daughter to use for her own personal self. My daughter doesn't have any clue what she was taken to do, and only told us what had happened. The grandmother told the Social Security office that we were taking vacations and buying vehicles with the money, and not giving it to my daughter. Untrue, as we make a very generous living working. We don't touch the money for ourselves. I save it all for her when she reaches age to manage it on her own. The social security office didn't even bother to ask us what was going on. They just automatically awarded the money to my daughter, and reported that we were fraudulent with the money. My daughter did also say that the representative said while she was there that she was a new employee and had never really had a case like this before.
We are fearful that the grandmother is taking advantage of my daughter for her own financial gain. I am trying to protect my daughters interests, but am not sure, aside of hiring an attorney, of what our next step should be. Do we call the police and have my daughter give a report first? Do we contact a SS attorney first? Do we contact the court, and request a restraining order against the grandmother? Which steps should we take first? We only have a week before the next payment is made, and we are sure it will disappear as soon as it hits the account.
Thanks for your help.
My 15 year old daughter receives Survivor Benefits for the death of her mother. I am her father, her legal guardian, and payee for her accounts. I have banked every penny of the money received. My wife and I are rather well off, and don't need it for day-to-day income. Recently, the maternal grandmother went to her high school, caught her on her way to the bus, and requested to my daughter to sign some papers - in a rather big hurry. Being 15, she didn't look at the papers, and signed away. I then received a letter from the Social Security office stating the payments are to be stopped to me, that the social security office found that I am incompetent to be the payee, and awarded my 15 year old daughter full payment of her benefits, which amount to around $800 a month. She has to have an account for them to be deposited into, so fortunately the grandmother co-signed a joint account. The grandmother is broke, and a real nut-case. It is my belief she intends to steal the money from my daughter to use for her own personal self. My daughter doesn't have any clue what she was taken to do, and only told us what had happened. The grandmother told the Social Security office that we were taking vacations and buying vehicles with the money, and not giving it to my daughter. Untrue, as we make a very generous living working. We don't touch the money for ourselves. I save it all for her when she reaches age to manage it on her own. The social security office didn't even bother to ask us what was going on. They just automatically awarded the money to my daughter, and reported that we were fraudulent with the money. My daughter did also say that the representative said while she was there that she was a new employee and had never really had a case like this before.
We are fearful that the grandmother is taking advantage of my daughter for her own financial gain. I am trying to protect my daughters interests, but am not sure, aside of hiring an attorney, of what our next step should be. Do we call the police and have my daughter give a report first? Do we contact a SS attorney first? Do we contact the court, and request a restraining order against the grandmother? Which steps should we take first? We only have a week before the next payment is made, and we are sure it will disappear as soon as it hits the account.
Thanks for your help.
