Hi Larry, my brother recently passed away, and I have legal custody of his two daughters. However the girls mother fraudulently filed for his death benefits, as well as their monthly benefits. I took custody of the girls 2 months after he passed away, and their mother, and her mother filed on the two girls behave. They continued receiving their benefits for a total of 5 months, four of which I had custody. The final court order indicates that their mother, and her mother owe us over $27,000 in Social Security benefits that they received, and shouldn’t have had. One they never had legal custody, and two Social Security would not give me the benefits until I gave them the final order from the court. My question is, how do I go about getting reimbursed what they owe me from Social Security? Many thanks , and any information you could give me I would greatly appreciate. Thanks

Hi,

I'm sorry for your loss.

If you haven't already done so, it sounds like the first thing you should do is apply with Social Security to be appointed as the representative payee for your nieces' benefits (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10076.pdf). You can also then report to them that the children's mother has apparently been misusing their benefits. Social Security would then need to investigate the alleged misuse of benefits, and if they determine that benefits were misused they can seek recovery of the benefits from the mother. If Social Security recovers misused funds they could then reissue the benefits to you on the children's behalf, assuming that you've been appointed as payee.

Best, Jerry