Oct
04
2010
By Brittanyfriend
Is a child required to live with surviving parent in order to receive survivor benefits?
What is required to change a representative payee?
Survivor benefits for children - representative payee
I have not seen evidence indicating a surviving child MUST live with a surviving parent to qualify for survivor benefits. I can see cases (marital separation prior to death, abuse, surviving parent travels etc.) where living with the parent does not make sense.
SSA documents indicate a representative payee is generally the legal guardian of the child, but this is not absolute :
http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10077.html#4
People who have "legal guardianship" or "power of attorney" for someone do not automatically qualify to be a representative payee.
Here are a couple forms regarding representative payee appointment :
http://www.ssa.gov/online/ssa-11.pdf
http://www.ssa.gov/online/ssa-1696.pdf