Feb
20
2012
By kateybear728
Hi, our daughter receives SSI due to her blindness. My husband is changing jobs, and he has stock in the company that was all employer contributed. He never put a dime into it. He has approximately $15,000 in stock and about $5000 in 401k. Can Social Security take any of this money from us? I am assuming I have to report the income, but I have heard stories of people receiving money from things like inheritance and lawsuits and having to pay back SS. The majority of the money is basically going right to my parents since they own our house and we pay them rent, but we are extremely behind in our rent. His gross annual pay is only $37400, don't know if that is matters or not! Thanks!
Stock for SSI household
This is an issue regarding "resources" (assets) and SSI. If a couple has more than $3,000 in "resources", your SSI payments may be limited.
Some resources (such as the house you live in and one vehicle) are not counted against this $3,000 limit. However, I do not see an exclusion for funds in a 401k account. Further, if the stock is "outside" a 401k, it likely will be a countable resource.
Social Security can not simply "take this money ($5k + $15k) away" from you. However, if the SSA determines that you had "possession" of the funds and did not report it, the SSA may require you to repay previous SSI payments.
http://www.ssa.gov/ssi/spotlights/spot-resources.htm
http://www.ssa.gov/ssi/text-resources-ussi.htm