SSA Representative Payee Program

At the request of the Social Security Administration (SSA), the Office of the Chairman studied state guardianship/conservatorship laws and court practices with an eye toward improved information sharing between SSA and state courts. The study researched current state guardianship/conservatorship statutes nationwide, as well as survey state courts on their respective practices concerning the selection, monitoring and sanctioning of guardians/conservators. Based on this research, the final report identifies potential avenues to improve the exchange of information between SSA and state courts that relates to representative payee and state guardianship/conservatorship programs respectively, with particular attention to situations where the SSA representative payee is also a court-appointed legal guardian.

Implementations

In April 2018, the Strengthening Protections for Social Security Beneficiaries Act of 2018 was enacted. The Act follows ACUS’ Representative Payee study, and section 103(c) requires ACUS to conduct a study on information sharing between SSA and state courts and agencies by June 2020. Information on the subsequent study may be found here.

In January 2018, the Social Security Advisory Board a report regarding Social Security’s representative payee program. The report discusses ACUS’ Representative Payee report and its guardianship and court practice survey results. In addition, it highlights Vice Chairman Matt Wiener’s remarks at a panel on “Working Interdisciplinary Networks of Guardianship Stakeholders.”

Project Documents

Name	Type	Date
SSA Representative Payee Program Report: Appendix A-I	Appendix	January 6, 2015	Download
SSA Representative Payee Program Report: State and Territory Guardianship Statute Forms	Appendix	January 6, 2015	Download
SSA Representative Payee: Survey of State Guardianship Laws and Court Practices	Report	January 6, 2015	Download

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