Dear Larry,
I am the rep payee for my husband. His SS benefits are in a rep payee account at the bank and have been saved for several years. My husband lives overseas, is very disabled, and chooses to live there because he does not have to be in a nursing facility. His expenses are covered by his VA money and Army pension. If he is forced to move back to the states the cost of his care would be prohibitive. The SS money is being saved for those potential future expenses. My health is not great and I would like to appoint a back-up rep payee should something happen to me. I tried adding our daughter to the rep payee account so she could have access to the money if something happened to me and the bank would not allow this. I don't know how to resolve this problem. Any help would be most appreciated. Thanks. Kate

Hi Kate,

It sounds like you need a power of attorney signed by your husband giving you full control of this account and allowing you to open up a mutual fund with the funds. Then you can transfer the funds to a mutual fund in your joint names and name your daughter as the beneficiary. Something of this nature is surely the way to go. Your husband get effect the power of attorney at the U.S. embassy in the country he resides.

My best, Larry