Long story short. The mother committed fraud and received the benefits for years. Lost custody of the children. Father gets custody gets hurt on job applies for benefits finds out the mom has been getting SSDI for the daughter. They are divorced have been for years. Now they are coming after him for the money 20k. He just got custody of the children. Why is he responsible.

Hi,

If Social Security benefits are paid incorrectly, primary liability for repayment of any overpaid funds rests with the person who received the overpayment. However, anyone who paid or later qualifies for benefits on the same Social Security record as the overpaid person can be held secondarily liable if Social Security is unable to collect the overpayment from the person who's primarily liable.

It doesn't sound like the father you mention would be liable for repayment assuming that he wasn't paid benefits from his wife's Social Security record, but if his children were paid benefits from the mother's Social Security account then they may be liable. So, I assume Social Security is actually seeking repayment from the children.

Based on the circumstances you describe, it sounds like this father may want to consider filing for waiver of the overpayment on behalf of the children. Waiver, or forgiveness, of an overpayment can be granted if a) the person was without fault in causing the overpayment, and b) they are either unable to repay the overpayment or recovery of the overpayment would be against equity and good conscience.

Best, Jerry