My 30 year old son that I am a rep payee for went to the bank and asked what the balance was on his account. He started calling me and demanding $500 because he knows the balance. The bank said he had the right to know. So I haven’t heard from my son for 4 days which is unusual. He always calls threatening me and demanding money. I just called the bank to check the balance of the rep payee account and found out that he withdrew money. Is this even allowed? Did the bank screw up? I will be going there first thing tomorrow. Has anyone else had something like this happen?
Is his name on the account?
I am the rep payee for my son, but his name is not on the account.
I don’t know if rules vary from state to state but my son’s account has both of our names on it. My name is listed as rep payee for him. The bank explained that my son couldn’t withdraw money without my approval which is the whole reason for a rep payee account.
His name is on the account. I just set it up the way they told me it had to be done, His name is first, then my name with rep payee next to it. We live in Ohio. I will go to the bank tomorrow. I have been looking for a new rep payee for him for a year now. I am tired of his angry phone calls demanding money.
1 Like
I am in Ohio too, and the bank I was with said that it had to be my name then rep payee for my son, but different banks may do it differently. I still think the bank messed up. The probate court may be able to assign someone as rep payee, they may not follow the guidelines or be as cautious as you might be but then again maybe they would be much more stricter in some cases, especially if you let them know the situation. I hope it gets worked out for you.
No, the bank should not have allowed him to withdraw the money.
My name is on the account alone, it does say for the benefit of “Jeb” but he doesn’t have any signing power on the account. Yes, I think banks do it differently, the first account I had set up was in both our names and the social security people told me they didn’t want him to have access.
They also told me to not put any other funds into the rep payee account. Just the funds that came from SS. I have the SS checks direct deposited.
Went to the bank today. They were definitely in the wrong. They will talk to the tellers. My son will be mad when he tries again and they say no. I am so tired of being the payee.
1 Like
For a person with mental health disability, the bank account should be set up as follows: “your name FBO son’s name”. FBO = For the Benefit Of. You should be the only owner of the account, and your signature should be the only signature on the account. The social security benefit should be direct deposit into the account, and no other funds should be put in. All of his living expenses, including rent, car, phone, clothes, utilites, co-pays etc can be paid by you from the account (to the extent the funds permit). This account cannot be co-mingled with any other accounts, it has to be separate. Some banks don’t seem to know much about Soc Sec requirements, so you have to be explicit in how the account is set up. Your son should apply for food stamps if he is not already getting this benefit. In any case, he will need a little spending money for gas and other supplies not covered by food stamps (not sure what the limitations are on where this spending money can come from, but as long as it is reasonable it should be ok).
2 Likes
Thank you for this. My son is changing his Rep Payee to me so I am really new to this part of the journey. I will make sure the account is set up FBO and I am the only owner.
Me and my daughter have separate accounts at the same bank, so when she needs money I simply transfer between accounts, easy to manage… no issues or problems…
1 Like