by mrbensworld » Wed Sep 15, 2010 07:54 pm
My 17 year old son received backpay from SSDI. He was never listed as a dependent when my LTD claim was filed. Does my LTD insurance company have the right to take this money that was paid to him not me? He is 18 now and no longer receiving these benefits. I never received money for him, as a dependent, from my LTD insurer.
Posted: Thu Sep 16, 2010 12:03 am Post Subject:
Just to correct the OPs post: I doubt that your son was receiving SSDI. That's Social Security Disability Income and at age 17 he generally wouldn't qualify simply because he isn't old enough and hasn't paid enough into the S.S. system to qualify.
I think you're referring to "SSI," or "Supplemental Security Income" which is available commonly to low-income persons who have had a parent die or can qualify otherwise. As you stated, this is normally payable only until age 18, or age 19 if still a full-time H.S. student.
I am also confused as to why there is a mention of a dependent regarding your Long Term Disability claim. You're the insured person and the only one eligible for benefits under that policy unless some rider was added that will also make benefit payments to your minor children.
Could you please clarify?
InsTeacher 8)
Posted: Thu Sep 16, 2010 07:31 pm Post Subject:
In June of 2006 I was forced to retire due to M.S. At the time I was eligible to receive LTD through my employer. I started receiving SSDI in 2008 and had to return to my LTD insurer all of my back pay received through SSDI. In 2009 my 17 year old son came to live with me. I received a call from my SSDI worker and I mentioned to her my son was now living with me, she told me that he is eligible to receive money's from SSDI as my dependent. He received back pay and then HE received monthly checks sent to him until he graduated high school. I DID NOT receive this money my son did. When my LTD insurer caught wind of this money that my son received they started to demand that I give this money back to them. When I started to receive money from my LTD insurer my son was not listed as a dependent. Do they have a right to demand this money from ME when it wasn't me who received it. The checks were automatically deposited in HIS account. They have stopped sending me my monthly check until this money , which is more than 3,000 dollars, has been given to them.
Posted: Thu Sep 16, 2010 07:33 pm Post Subject:
Also, much of this money was paid to him was after he turned 18, because he was still in high school.
Posted: Thu Sep 16, 2010 10:08 pm Post Subject:
In June of 2006 I was forced to retire due to M.S. At the time I was eligible to receive LTD through my employer. I started receiving SSDI in 2008 and had to return to my LTD insurer all of my back pay received through SSDI.
Something is either missing from your details or your details are amiss. Did you first apply for SSDI in 2006 or 2008? Did your LTD policy include any provision requiring you to apply for all eligible benefits?
Understand this, your SSDI payments are not "back pay", they are what they are, a disability benefit because you have been determined to be unable to perform "any substantial gainful activity." As long as you meet that definition, which would be true unless your MS goes into remission, which is possible, you will continue to receive SSDI to age 65, at which time you will begin receiving your SS retirement benefit.
Almost certainly, your LTD policy has a provision in it called "benefit integration" that requires your LTD benefit to be reduced by the amount of SSDI and any other disability benefits for which you are eligible. The concept simply means that your SSDI and LTD benefits, together, will not be more than your LTD benefit by itself. You will be required to report the value of any such benefits to your LTD insurer.
If it took Social Security 18-24 months to approve your DI application, it would have paid you retroactively back to the first day of sixth full month following your application, and that would be the point at which your LTD policy would also be entitled to invoke the "benefit integration" provision.
So I think what may have happened is that your LTD insurer did not know you were receiving the SSDI benefit (or that you received a retroactive payment), and subsequently adjusted the amount you were entitled to receive to that date and is either deducting it from your continuing benefit or requesting that you repay it in a lump sum. If SSDI is more than your LTD benefit (not likely), then you would not be entitled to any of that LTD benefit, and of course the insurance company would be entitled to its return.
So here's the other rub. If your policy required you to apply for all "eligible" benefits (whether you qualify for them or not is a different discussion), but you did not, or you did later, then they may be entitled to an adjustment back to the date you would first have been qualified had you applied as soon as possible in 2006, even though you were not actually qualified for a benefit until later. If that applies to your policy, it's something that should have been disclosed when you first applied for that benefit.
About your son and his benefit . . .
He received back pay and then HE received monthly checks sent to him until he graduated high school. I DID NOT receive this money my son did.
As far as your son's benefit is concerned, that, too, is not "back pay", but your child's benefit due to your disability. The child's benefit was also payable beginning at the time you first received your SSDI benefit. If SS discovers that a child was inadvertently omitted, it will retroactively pay the benefit to the child, even if the child is no longer eligible due to age.
But something else may not quite right here also. Any SS benefit payable to a child is normally payable to an adult as the responsible person for the child's affairs, which would be a custodial parent or legal guardian. That doesn't mean they couldn't have made the checks payable to him, just that it is unusual. But it would have been quite routine for SS to issue checks to your child in your name as the responsible adult. That still does not make the benefit "yours". SS can demand an accounting of how the money is being spent in the child's behalf, but if the money was being directed into an account he controlled, then there is no issue to speak of.
I don't think I've ever seen a LTD policy that limited payments to an insured on the basis of a child's or spouse's separate benefit or income. Unless there is different language in your LTD policy, I don't believe your child's benefit is assessable in any amount against your LTD benefit, and any attempt by the LTD insurer to do that which is not permitted by the contract is a breach.
So what you really need to do is read your policy to determine what your responsibilities are and what the insurer is entitled to do. Then reconcile what has happened in the past few years with what should have happened. If you believe that the insurance company is violating the contract, you can make a complaint to your state's Dept of Insurance before you consider hiring an attorney to represent your interests.
Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2011 11:05 am Post Subject: social security dependant
Iam the dependant for my son to recieve ssi for his fathers death.he's turing 18 this month and is only in the dependant11th grade will he recieve ssi check directly to him now that he's of age?
Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2011 11:06 am Post Subject: social security dependant
Iam the dependant for my son to recieve ssi for his fathers death.he's turing 18 this month and is only in the dependant11th grade will he recieve ssi check directly to him now that he's of age?
Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2011 02:57 am Post Subject:
I am currently on SSDI and receiving LTD payments as well. My LTD payments were decreased once my SSDI was approved.
MY policy did state dependent/spouse benefit are considered as income and can further reduce my LTD benefits which they have.
My children checks (before I had them direct deposited) came in their name with my name underneath theirs.
They can not take your children's backpay however they can consider their monthly payments as income and therefore reduce your LTD benefit.
For example:
MY original LTD benefit $2916
MY SSDI benefit $1444 (generates a overpayment)
MY new LTD benefit $1472
MY Children SSDI benefits 720 ($240 x 3 children)(generates another overpayment)
MY new LTD benefit amount $752
Overpayment usually very close to the amount of your backpay/lumpsum check for your children
Oh and Carolyn12
When my son turned 18 and was still in high school yes the check came in his name until he turned 19.
Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2011 12:21 pm Post Subject:
anonymous2011, you have explained a situation. I didn't quite get your actual query over here.
Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2011 04:30 pm Post Subject:
It was in response to the original question on this thread regarding dependent benefits under SSDI
Posted: Wed Sep 15, 2010 7:54 pm Post subject: LTD dependent repayment
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My 17 year old son received backpay from SSDI. He was never listed as a dependent when my LTD claim was filed. Does my LTD insurance company have the right to take this money that was paid to him not me? He is 18 now and no longer receiving these benefits. I never received money for him, as a dependent, from my LTD insurer.
Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2011 12:48 am Post Subject: child benefits end
I receive $750 and my son receives $250 from SSDI. I am disabled. When he turns 18 and his benefit ends, does my benefit go to $1000?
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