We do not believe that the Social Security Act would allow the mother to delegate her representative payee duties to her son, even through a power of attorney. The social security regulations require representative payees to inform the Social Security Administration (SSA) of changed circumstances “that would affect performance of his/her payee responsibilities.” 20 CFR 416.635(f). And, the SSA will terminate any payments to a representative payee who is “unable to manage [the beneficiary’s] benefit payments.” 20 CFR 416.650(f). If that happens, the representative payee must return the beneficiary’s social security funds to the SSA, which will transfer the funds to a new account after appointing a new representative payee. 20 CFR 416.640(e)(5)(ii).
We have an SSA account with a representative payee who is very sick and unable to perform her duties as representative payee. Can she sign a power of attorney to allow her son to take over her representative payee responsibilities?
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