The Social Security Administration (SSA) has authority to appoint a person or organization as representative payee for a beneficiary to manage payments for a beneficiary who is unable to do so.
The SSA follows certain procedures when administering the program in order to:
- determine whether it’s in the beneficiary’s best interest to have a payee;
- select the proper payee;
- have adequate oversight over the payee’s activities; and
- provide redress for any misuse of funds.
Read more about each of these procedures at Justice in Aging Fact Sheet: SSA's Representative Payee Program. If you know someone who may need a representative payee, call the SSA at 1-800-772-1213.
More information is available in this brochure published by Legal Aid: What I Should Know If I Have a Rep Payee