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Use of Beneficiary Funds

Can beneficiary funds for a child under 18 be used to open a College 529 plan if all current needs are being met? Once the child turns 18, does my job as representative payee automatically end?


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As a representative payee of a minor child, you will need to fill out form SSA-6230 on a regular (annual) basis. This can be done online.

I couldn't find form SSA-6230 online, but here's SSA-6233 which is comparable :

https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms/images/SSA6/G-SSA-6233-BK-1.pdf

SSA evaluation of your answers to SSA-6230 can be seen here :

https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0200605072

The SSA implies beneficiary funds must be used in this order :

  1. food and shelter;
  2. other items such as clothing, education, personal items, and medical and dental expenses; and
  3. savings.

http://www.ssa.gov/oig/ADOBEPDF/audit_htms/96-64209.htm

Benefits for non-disabled children generally end when the child reaches age 18, or at the end of the 12th grade, whichever occurs first. With the ending of benefit payments, I have not seen indication of the need for a representative payee, at least from the SSA's perspective.

My dependent child is receiving survivor benefits from his deceased mother's social security. I did not know about these benefits so I just started receiving them, ten years after she passed away.

i have always provided for the basic needs of my children. i provide food and shelter and medical care, etc. and still continue to do so. The funds received are used mainly to upgrade his style of living. We got him new furniture, pay with this for sports, private lessons, recreation, etc. We checked the book and it seems taht after the basic needs are covered this is allowed. what I don't know is if it means after the basic needs are covered by the funds or if the parent can cover the basic needs with their on income. We know that the funds are supposed to be used for food and shelter first, but in a case where the widowed parent has always provided for these and would like to continue to do so, is this allowed?

If at all possible I would like to continue to claim my son as a dependent on my tax return. Is this possible while receiving these benefits?

I have not yet recieved for 6320 and would like to know what the questions are on this form. We have not been able to find a copy of this form anywhere in the internet and are hoping someone that has received one before could list the main questions for us.

Thank you for your assistance.

I'll offer a couple comments, but you'd be advised to verify with the SSA and your tax adviser.

As far as use of the benefits, I believe the intent of "use of funds priority" is to ensure the funds are used for the surviving CHILD, not a surviving parent or other adult. In other words, I've seen reports where essentially the child lives in rags while the surviving parent parties with the benefits meant for the child. This is something the SSA wants to prevent. I suspect most any reasonable expense used FOR THE CHILD would be allowed.

Typically, to be a qualifying child for tax purposes, you (the parent) must have provided more than half of the support.

In general, it appears that "Survivors' and Dependents' Educational Assistance payments used for the support of the child who receives them" are not included in "Total Support", so they need not be taken into account when determining if you provided at least 50 percent of support. Please verify your situation with your tax adviser.

http://www.irs.gov/publications/p501/ar02.html#en_US_2010_publink1000220886


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Not affiliated with the US Social Security Administration