Social Security finalized regulations on representative payees and posted the information Feb. 11, 2020 in the Federal Register. Below is a summary of the action, which will go into effect Feb. 25, 2020.
We are finalizing our proposed regulations specifying the information Social Security beneficiaries and applicants must provide to designate individuals as their possible representative payee in advance of our determination that the beneficiary needs a representative payee. These regulations additionally set forth how we will consider an individual’s advance designation when we select a representative payee, and fulfill our obligation under 201 of the Strengthening Protections for Social Security Beneficiaries Act of 2018.
A representative payee is a person or an organization that Social Security selects to receive and manage Social Security benefits for a person who the agency determines is unable to manage their own benefits. The regulations relate to the passage of the Social Security Beneficiaries Act of 2018 and allows for advance designation of representative payees and requires Social Security to provide regulations specifying information needed from potential payees to ensure benefits are managed properly. In advance of these new regulations Social Security held a national disability forum on the topic and received feedback before offering the new regulations.
The main goal of the regulations is to protect the benefits of vulnerable individuals. Unfortunately Social Security had discovered that there were too many instances where a representative payee that was appointed to manage the funds of a disability beneficiary mismanaged the benefit or used them for their own benefit. Unfortunately no matter what regulation Social Security sets regarding representative payees it is not going to reduce all mismanagement of funds, but this does strengthen the rules and provides less of an opportunity for a vulnerable beneficiary to get taken advantage of.
