Representative payee

What it means

Social Security does not accept a power of attorney. Managing somebody's benefits requires appointment as a representative payee, through Social Security's own process.

The payee receives the benefits, must use them for the person's needs, must keep them separate from their own money, and may have to account for them.

Other federal programs have their own equivalents, and being appointed for one does not carry over to another.

Why it matters

It surprises almost every family: the document that works at the bank does not work at Social Security, and there is no way around it.

It also carries real duties. Misuse of benefits is pursued, and the payee is answerable for the money.

When you are likely to meet it

• When a parent can no longer manage their benefits.
• When Social Security refuses to accept a power of attorney.
• When benefits are being deposited into an account nobody can reach.

Related terms

• Authorized signerSomebody a bank permits to transact on an account they do not own. It is access without ownership, and it ends at the account holder's death.
• CapacityWhether somebody is able to understand a decision and its consequences well enough to make it. It is decided decision by decision, not once and for all.
• ConservatorshipA court appointing somebody to manage the money and property of an adult who cannot manage it themselves.
• Durable power of attorneyA power of attorney that keeps working after the person who signed it loses the ability to make decisions — which is usually the whole point of signing one.
• FiduciaryAnybody who holds power over somebody else's money or decisions and is legally required to use it for them rather than for themselves.
• Fiduciary dutyThe obligation to act for somebody else's benefit rather than your own — and to be able to show you did.
• Financial exploitationTaking or misusing an older or vulnerable person's money or property. It is usually done by somebody they know.
• GuardianshipA court appointing somebody to make decisions for an adult who cannot make them, usually about care, housing and medical treatment.
• Instrumental activities of daily livingThe harder-to-see tasks — money, medication, cooking, transport, the telephone. Difficulty here usually appears long before difficulty with bathing or dressing.
• Social Security overpayment after a deathA benefit is not payable for the month somebody dies, and anything paid after has to go back.
• Successor agentThe person a power of attorney names to act if the first-named agent cannot. Without one, the document can be left with nobody able to use it.

Official sources

The authority this page describes, at the agency that publishes it. Sahvelo does not restate a rule from a secondary source.

• Social Security — representative payee (opens in a new tab)

Sahvelo guidance that uses this

• Managing money for a parent