Wisconsin
In the middle of January I became the representative payee for my 20 year old goddaughter who is on SSI. For the months of last November, December, and January she had a rep payee that was approved by Social Security to charge a fee for their services.
The long and the short of it is that I am very familiar with my goddaughter's bills and expenses and this old fee payee claims that for the months of November and December they spent every cent they received for her when by my reckoning there is over $900 that is not accounted for. That represents an amount of over $100 each week for 9 weeks above and beyond her bills and living expenses.
In January this payee received my goddaughter's checks for $698 from the federal government and another $83 from Wisconsin for a total of $781. This old payee paid out nothing after the 10th of January and what they did pay could not have amounted to more than $400. Yet again they claim they have none of her money left, zero.
My goddaughter's caseworker at Social Security told me that representative payees are on the honor system and what they claim to have spent is simply accepted at face value. I know my goddaughter has had hundreds of dollars of her money simply taken by this old for fee payee and not in any way spent for her benefit.
Do I, or does she have any recourse at all in trying to get even some of that money or having this old for fee rep payee prove what her money was spent for?
I could certainly use even some of that money to improve her life and her living conditions. It's a shame that an approved Social Security representative payee allowed to charge a fee can so blatantly steal their client's money that they were trusted to use on the behalf of those people. There must be some way they can be held accountable because I ca show where every dollar that I have had of my goddaughter's SSI money has gone and how it has been used on her behalf.
Thanks in advance for any answers, they are appreciated.
In the middle of January I became the representative payee for my 20 year old goddaughter who is on SSI. For the months of last November, December, and January she had a rep payee that was approved by Social Security to charge a fee for their services.
The long and the short of it is that I am very familiar with my goddaughter's bills and expenses and this old fee payee claims that for the months of November and December they spent every cent they received for her when by my reckoning there is over $900 that is not accounted for. That represents an amount of over $100 each week for 9 weeks above and beyond her bills and living expenses.
In January this payee received my goddaughter's checks for $698 from the federal government and another $83 from Wisconsin for a total of $781. This old payee paid out nothing after the 10th of January and what they did pay could not have amounted to more than $400. Yet again they claim they have none of her money left, zero.
My goddaughter's caseworker at Social Security told me that representative payees are on the honor system and what they claim to have spent is simply accepted at face value. I know my goddaughter has had hundreds of dollars of her money simply taken by this old for fee payee and not in any way spent for her benefit.
Do I, or does she have any recourse at all in trying to get even some of that money or having this old for fee rep payee prove what her money was spent for?
I could certainly use even some of that money to improve her life and her living conditions. It's a shame that an approved Social Security representative payee allowed to charge a fee can so blatantly steal their client's money that they were trusted to use on the behalf of those people. There must be some way they can be held accountable because I ca show where every dollar that I have had of my goddaughter's SSI money has gone and how it has been used on her behalf.
Thanks in advance for any answers, they are appreciated.