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?

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).