Hi Larry I am my fathers caretaker and had his social security checks deposited into my business account and now they have discontinued his payments saying that I he owns my business but he doesn't what am I to do we have sent documents showing that that's false please help

Hi,

I can't imagine how ownership in a business could affect your father's benefits, provided that he's entitled to Social Security benefits and not Supplemental Security Income (SSI). The latter is a needs based program, so ownership in a business could cause the recipient to be ineligible (https://www.ssa.gov/ssi/).

Assuming that your father is only entitled to Social Security benefits, then I suspect that the problem may be related to the direct deposit rules. If your father is his own payee, his benefits must be deposited to an account listing his name as sole or joint owner of the account. If your father is incapable of handling his benefits and Social Security has appointed you as his representative payee, then the account where his funds are kept and deposited must show him as the sole owner, and you as the person authorized to handle funds in the account (https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0202402055).

Best, Jerry