Go Fund Me and Disability

Family
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Okay, so I have a question. I started a Go Fund Me campaign yesterday. I set the goal at $2500 and myself as the beneficiary. Within an hour, thanks to a very generous old friend, my goal was reached. The campaign was set up because I am going to have to take my son to medical appointments that are 2 hours away from home. My car is 22 years old and in need of some major repairs in order to drive it that distance on the interstate, so at least $1000 is going to go for car repairs. I’ll be missing work to get him to these appointments, so it will also be supplementing my income so that I can pay rent and bills.

I am concerned that since it is because of his medical condition that I made the campaign, he’s going to get shafted somehow. He won’t have access to the money, and he’s not actually going to be benefiting from the money raised, personally.

If I were to raise $100,000 or something crazy like that, it wouldn’t even matter if they took his disability and medical away. I’d just cover his expenses myself.

So, does anyone here know if this piddly $2700 that I raised is going to affect him? Does anyone have any experience with this?

My son’s diagnosis has gone from traumatic brain injury with psychosis to bipolar disorder to schizoaffective disorder. He has a cyst in his brain that is pressing against the left temporal lobe. He is seeing a neurosurgeon next Wednesday about the cyst.

Thanks!!!

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That money should be reported on your SSN not his, so I doubt anyone would take the time to look into it that closely to see that it was for him and not you.

I have a friend who was in the same situation - his wife had another stroke & his car was on it’s last leg. I think he needed less than $1000 and it got reported on his SSN. They did question him about it because the family was getting other assistance like food stamps that covered them all.

He had to show that he spent all the money on the car repairs & other stuff related to her care & then it was OK. I think they might have reduced their food stamps or something for one month. He told me about it in an email, so I can go back & get the exact details if you need them.

But, all I would do is save all the evidence that you used the money for car repairs and show how that’s related to helping your son, which should be easy. It’s not like health insurance would pay for those expenses, and transportation related to medical is tax deductible, so you should be OK.

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I don’t think it will affect any of his Medicaid or SSI. But like SLW said you really need to keep all the receipts for travel and car expenses. If you aren’t already doing so, start saving receipts. This will go on your income, not his.

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