I was not assuming that you were a liar, and I don’t believe that you are a liar. I was just putting in a caveat in case there was a mistake or misunderstanding.
My experience (with my wife) is when you get to the ‘sitting in a room with a human being and you have your documents’ stage things become rational and generally work out okay.
It’;s the whole ‘impersonal computer has flagged you - here’s a form letter’ part that freaks everyone out at the beginning.
Get your documents together, arrange an appointment, talk it through. You’d be surprised how often the ‘mixup’ goes away at the snap of the appropriate person’s fingers…
Well one way she could repay it is by working more hours per year. Apparently she’s got the opportunity, or she wouldn’t have to watch so religiously about not going over. That’s how most people that live get by…they work for a living.
Another way is that they reduce her future benefits to get back what was overpaid. She could then make up for the reduced benefits by working more.
We met with someone years ago about setting up a special needs trust for Dweezil (mild autism). IIRC, there’s a limit to how much the disabled person can own, without being disqualified for social security, and it’s a small amount. We were told that everything should be owned by the trust - e.g. if we left him a house, we’d need to leave it to the trust.
Alice, you should be able to spend that money on your son. Are you sure you can’t do so? I know my sister-in-law receives social security for my nephew (who is over 18, maybe that’s the trick?). She puts it in an account and “bills” for his living expenses since that’s what the money is for.
SS pulled this on my dad back in the late 90’s.
They were sending him around 13 dollars a month (for a family of 4). After this went on for a couple of years, my parents spent months contacting SS to get them to pay a more reasonable amount. SS ignored them and eventually my parents sued… After this point, SS sent letters saying they over paid and my parents owed them tons of money back. I still don’t understand that tactic. Maybe to get them to drop the lawsuit out of fear of being found to have been over paid? Anybody with half a brain cell could tell that 13 dollars a month was more a slap in the face than help.
Eventually SS settled and paid the back amounts and started paying around 200 dollars a month. Still not a living amount, but at least it covered some of the pain medications. Not that it helped much… They ended up accruing huge amounts of debt on medical procedures and medications over the years and had to go bankrupt and lose their house.
Oh, yeah, I’m sure. He does still get his regular monthly check, and it goes to me, his payee. The $3,000 is a one-time payment because they apparently weren’t paying enough for a couple of years. But, of course, you can’t have that much money in your bank account at once, because then you don’t qualify for SSI anymore. So it had to go into a dedicated account, just for that one-time deposit. And I can’t spend it except for on medical necessities, of which he really doesn’t have any at this time, especially since he also has medical insurance through the state. It really is a brilliant catch-22, and something only the government could think up. I *can spend it in an emergency, if we were getting evicted or something, with the proper documentation and permission, so hey, there’s that.
:dubious:
Look, this thread was in GQ when I posted to it. I asked a factual question. Q doesn’t seem to want to answer, and I haven’t pestered him or anything. I’m not the one being a jerk (or a junior mod) here.
As loathe as I am to say so, I don’t think Rand was being a jerk or out of line with his questions. Maybe lacking in compassion, sure, but his question was a good one.
**Q **- You said she’s “Appealing it, of course” but don’t state exactly why you’re so certain you’re in the right. I think we all want to make sure you have your ducks in a row before taking on the appeal process to avoid wasting anyone’s time or money (including the taxpayers.) You say your wife has worked the right number of hours to keep everything in line, but do you have records going back that will prove it to the SSDI?
Also a separate question - by what percentage are they saying she was overpaid? You can give a rough range if you don’t want to post specifics here but I’m curious how large an overage they’re claiming.
My guess is that they have decided that, based on her ability to work at all, sometime around 2007, she should have been determined no londer qualified to receive SSDI. If you are able to maintain Substantial Gainful Employment for a certain length of time, SSA may reach the conclusion that you no longer are disabled. They will then look back to see at what point you crossed that threshold and demand repayment retroactive to that date.
Your first option should be to see if there is a Work Incentives Coordinator near you (see this page for listings in GA. Although that list is on SSA’s website, these individuals do not work for Social Security. They are trained in how to interpret and advise on SSI and SSDI matters, though. Even if one is not right near you, call the closest one and see what options exist in your area.
There is no expectation that you will pay this all back at once, despite the handy space for you to enter your credit card number for payment of 46K. But ignoring it will not make it go away and the sooner you deal with it, the better able someone fluent in the system will be to help you figure out what needs to be done.
(bolding mine)
Rand, you’re talking to a layman, and coming across like a horse’s ass. The bolded part is completely unnecessary. Back the fuck off. He’s got more than enough on his plate without dealing with the likes of you. You know nothing about SS law by your own admission, and you apparently were born without a compassionate bone in your body, so you have nothing positive to contribute to this thread.
If you wanna fight somebody, pit me. I double dog dare you. Going to the store in a few minutes, but I’ll be back shortly.
Take your best shot.
I, too, think the questions are valid, if only to get you thinking about what you need to do to prepare for this.
If you read this blog entry, it states (correctly, as far as I know) that in order for an SSDI overpayment to be waived, the individual has to show 2 things:
- That the overpayment was not their fault and
- That repaying it would cause a hardship
Social security Administration will work out payment plans with people for very few dollars/month—I had former clients who were paying back as little as $20/month. Because of SSA’s willingness to make these payment plans, it is very difficult for an individual to claim hardship.
That link has some very good information on it.
Here: (and I regret ever having mentioned this on this board)
"We have decided that your disability has ended and that you are no longer entitled to SSDI payments for Dec. 2007 through Sept 2008 and beginning June 2009.
Information about your payments
Your payments continued during your trial work period of 9 trial work months while you tested your ability to work. Your trial work period ended Nov. 2005.
What happens after the trial work period
Your disability ends if your work activity shows your ability to do substantial work. However we pay benefits for the month disability ends and the following 2 months no matter how much is earned. In your case, Sept. 2007 through Nov 2007
You get an extended period of eleigibility that begins right after the trial work period. This is a 36 month period when we restart payments for any month(s) your work is not substantial if your health problems still meet our rules.
Your extended period of eligibility months are Dec. 2005 through Nov 2008. Since your earnings were substantial in Dec 2007 through Sept. 2008 you are not entitled to payments for those months. We continued to pay you after Nov 2008 until you did substantial work again in June 2009. therefore the last month for which you are entitled to payments is may 2009. You are no longer entitled to SSDI as of June 2009 because of substantial work.
Overpayment Information
Because we did not stop your checks until Jan 2011, you were paid 46,933.00 too much in benefits."
========================================================
All bolding, italics, spelling errors are my own. The reason it took this long to answer those of you with the problem, is because I hand-typed this whole fucking thing.
Also to be noted is the fact that my wife was sent questionnaires regarding her health which she answered religiously, had forwarded her increasing medical bills (which, she was told would be taken into consideration) and stayed in constant contact with her SSDI rep throughout this entire period, and at no time was she told anything like what is in this letter. If they did indeed overpay her, why in the hell did they wait until 2011 to let her know?
After the tongue-lashing from my wife regarding airing her problems here, and essentially being called a liar and deadbeat where I thought I had friends, I am asking that this thread be closed.
At any rate, I won’t be re-visiting this thread.
I really, really hope you are able to see that no one has called you a liar and a deadbeat.
Some of us are concerned that you may not have a leg to stand on because SSA is more powerful than an individual and SSA themselves have set the rules about what circumstances will allow a payee to claim a right to a waiver. But that does NOT equal people here thinking that you are a liar or a cheat or whatever.
I do sincerely hope you check out the links I provided. I know many people who have been through this, Quasi. No, it’s not fair, especially when it took them 4 years of payment to suddenly turn to your wife and say “Ooops, we want that back.” But people here are trying to be helpful.
If your wife has religiously followed the rules in terms of number of hours worked and amount of income, then I don’t think you have anything to worry about. Just show them the paperwork.
If, on the other hand, she did not follow the rules in terms of hours worked, income, and paperwork submitted, then it may be the case that your wife was overpaid. In which case you owe the money.
Sounds like you need representation.
What a fabulously condescending contribution. Did you think that was remotely helpful?
Quasi, ignore Rand. He’s as good as admitted that he has nothing to contribute and his only reason for being in this thread is an excuse to trot out his personal prejudices.
Well from reading the comments from the SSA that Quasimodo posted, they have taken the same point of view that I did. If you can work, you don’t need assistance.
If that hurts the OP’s sensibilities or even yours, then too bad. Sometimes the truth hurts.
Just when I forget what a bunch of idiots a lot of dopers can be, a thread like this comes along to remind me.
I very simply asked Quasimodem a question. The reason you are so upset with me is that I treated Quasimodem like one treats a normal adult human being. You idiots can’t handle that–in your view, you think people like Quasimodem should be treated like children. You think he should just be patted on the head and told that everything will be fine–don’t worry about the mean ol’ government trying to take your money away, you’ll get it back. Well, I think that’s awful and you should be ashamed of yourselves.
The fact that you are getting on my case for what I’ve said in this thread says a lot more about you than it does about me.
Moderator comment:
I have to say I agree with this. To several of you who have called out Rand Rover on his posting behavior in this thread, let’s not conflate Rand’s political stance, known to be quite conservative though it is, with his actual comments here. Besides, addressing another poster with regard to their behavior violates the rule against junior modding. I know you meant well, given what we might call some special circumstances here, but please refrain from attacking or reprimanding your fellow members. Report posts to the staff if you feel there is a problem.
No notes or warnings issued.
This doesn’t exactly seem to encourage beneficiaries to ease back into the working world, does it?
This is laughable.