20 CFR 404.2065 – How does your representative payee account for the use of benefits?
(a) Your representative payee must account for the use of your benefits. We require written reports from your representative payee at least once a year (except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section and for certain State institutions that participate in a separate onsite review program).
Terms Used In 20 CFR 404.2065
- Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
- Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
(b) Your representative payee is exempt from the accounting requirement when your representative payee is:
(1) A natural or adoptive parent of a minor child entitled to title II benefits who primarily resides in the same household as the beneficiary;
(2) A legal guardian of a minor child entitled to title II benefits who primarily resides in the same household as the beneficiary;
(3) A natural or adoptive parent of a disabled individual (as defined in section 223(d) of the Act) entitled to title II benefits who primarily resides in the same household as the beneficiary; or
(4) The spouse of an individual entitled to title II benefits.
(c) We may verify how your representative payee used your benefits. Your representative payee should keep records of how benefits were used in order to make accounting reports and must make those records available upon our request. If your representative payee fails to provide an annual accounting of benefits or other required reports, we may require your payee to receive your benefits in person at the local Social Security field office or a United States Government facility that we designate serving the area in which you reside. The decision to have your representative payee receive your benefits in person may be based on a variety of reasons. Some of these reasons may include the payee’s history of past performance or our past difficulty in contacting the payee. We may ask your representative payee to give us the following information:
(1) Where you lived during the accounting period;
(2) Who made the decisions on how your benefits were spent or saved;
(3) How your benefit payments were used; and
(4) How much of your benefit payments were saved and how the savings were invested.