I need two questions answered please...
1). I started taking benefits at my full retirement age and then within 6 months changed my mind and dropped off a letter at the SSA local office. Months later they told me I was too late and denied my request to pay back monies and wait until I was 70 years old. Can I contest this now three year old ruling ?.? 2) I failed to ask for family benefits for my under 18 children...can I now go back and file and receive them ?? Thank you very much...Rick

Hi Rick. The answer to both questions is a tentative maybe. If you submitted a written request to withdraw your original application within 12 months of your initial month of entitlement, then you should have been allowed to withdraw your claim. But, to contest that now you'd need to be able to prove that you did, in fact, submit a timely written request to withdraw your claim. Withdrawals are normally requested by submitting a form SSA-521 (https://www.ssa.gov/forms/ssa-521.pdf), but any form of written document could suffice if if clearly indicates your intent to withdraw.

I should add that Social Security will likely fight you tooth and nail if you pursue this, so be prepared. And, unless you can actually prove that you did submit a timely written request to withdraw your application, then you have virtually no chance at success.

With regard to your second question, if you listed the names of your eligible children on your application for benefits then that would have established a protective filing date on their behalf. Normally, a person can only claim child benefits for a maximum of 6 months retroactively, so the only way your children would qualify for benefits based on an application filed today would be if they were still eligible for benefits within the past 6 months. But, if you listed your children on your original application and if Social Security did not close out that protective filing date by sending out a notice, then that protective filing date could be used to establish retroactive entitlement back to your initial month of entitlement. That's assuming, of course, that you don't end up withdrawing that application.

If you think that you listed your children on your application and if you don't withdraw that application, then it sounds like either you or your children should contact Social Security to see about filing an application for child benefits. On that application, if would be important to list in the remarks section that the children are requesting retroactive entitlement based on a presumed protective filing date from being listed on your application. If your children are now at least age 18 and are mentally competent, they'd need to file their own applications.

Best, Jerry