Can a county judge order you to save all benefits that my child receives because I am disabled?
I recently had the final hearing for the custody of my child. They did not include the money that comes to me for my child as income for child support however the judge said that I have to set up a separate account where that money is out and that I have save that money received and that if I touched that money I had to tell my ex (we were not even married and my benifits didn't even kick in until after we were apart) what, where, when, and why that money was spent. Can a county judge order that? I have been told there are federal statues against that, that the only people that can say anything about what is done with that money is the federal government and or social security, but I am having a hard time finding that. Please help me figure that out.
Thanks so much!

Hi,

Sorry, but I'm not a lawyer, so I don't know what a county judge can order you to do. Here is what the Social Security operations manual says regarding benefits that a parent receives on behalf of a child:

'2. Proper Use of Benefits

A payee must use benefits to provide for the beneficiary's current needs such as food, clothing, housing, medical care and personal comfort items, or for reasonably foreseeable needs. If not needed for these purposes, the payee must conserve or invest benefits on behalf of the beneficiary.'

Best, Jerry