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FOM1 1425 Notification and Appeal Rights Revised July 28, 2023 Page 1 of 4 

1425.5 Notification

Advance Notice

Under the Code of Federal Regulations, whenever a representative payee is selected or 

changed, the annuitant must be notified 15 days in advance of the appointment via 

release of a Form Letter RL-107, "Advance Notice of Representative Payee Selection." 

The RL-107 letter informs the annuitant of the RRB’s plan to name a representative 

payee and who that payee will be. The letter informs the annuitant of their right to 

review the RRB’s proposed actions and to submit any additional evidence to be 

considered by the RRB before the representative payee appointment. This advance 

notice does not confer rights for reconsideration to the annuitant. The appeal rights and 

reconsideration process is initiated after the 15 day advance notice period ends when 

Form Letter RL-107B is released at the time of the representative payee appointment. 

If the annuitant requests a review of the intent of the RRB to appoint a representative 

payee within the 15 day advance notice period, the RRB will review the decision and 

consider any additional information provided and then decide whether to proceed with 

the representative payee appointment. This review and decision is made by the party 

who has made the representative payee selection, usually the RRB field office, and not 

by the Reconsideration Section.

Appointment Notice

After the 15 day advance notice period, the annuitant must be notified of the RRB’s 

appointment of a representative payee via release of a Form Letter RL-107B, “Notice to 

Annuitant of Representative Payee Selection.” The RL-107B letter provides the 

annuitant with his or her rights to file a request for reconsideration of the representative 

payee appointment decision. 

Other Notices

A representative payee applicant is notified of his or her status via either Form Letter 

RL-107A, “Notice to Selected Representative Payee” or Form Letter RL-107E, “Notice 

to Not Selected Representative Payee Applicant.”

An annuitant is notified of the resumption of direct payment via RL-107C, “Notice to 

Annuitant Who Will be Paid Directly Because of Representative Payee Dismissal.”

A discharged representative payee is notified of his or her removal via Form Letter 

RL-107D, “Notice to Dismissed Representative Payee.”

Whenever the field office learns of a change in the custody of an annuitant in a 

representative payee case, the field office releases Form Letter RL-107F, “Custodian 

Notice – Third Party Representative Payee Selected” to the new custodian.
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1425.5.1 Initial Annuity Award

When the representative payee has been selected, a Form Letter RL-107, "Advance 

Notice of Representative Payee Selection," must be released to the annuitant 15 days 

prior to the representative payee appointment. The initial annuity award is made to a 

representative payee and the representative payee receives the award letter. The letter 

contains a paragraph indicating that he/she has been selected as representative payee. 

The annuitant also receives a copy of the award letter if he has not been declared 

legally incompetent.

1425.5.2 Payee/Custody Changes

Field offices are responsible for issuing notices signed by the district manager, to 

annuitants, denied and selected representative payee applicants and custodians. 

Copies of all notices released by the field are to be imaged. 

A. Change from annuitant to representative payee - Fifteen days prior to the 

representative payee appointment, release Form Letter RL-107 to the annuitant. 

When the payee is appointed, release Form Letter RL-107A to the representative 

payee as notice of his or her selection. Form Letter RL-107B is also sent directly 

to the annuitant. See FOM-I-1745 for instructions on the completion of these 

forms.

B. Change from representative payee to representative payee - Fifteen days prior to 

the representative payee change, release Form Letter RL-107 to the annuitant. 

At the appointment, release Form Letter RL-107D to the old payee. Send the 

new payee Form Letter RL-107A. Notify the annuitant of the change in payee 

with Form Letter RL-107B.

Exception: In cases involving minor child annuitants, field offices should decide 

whether the release of the Form Letter RL-107B would be in the best interests of 

the annuitant.

C. Change from representative payee to annuitant - Send the annuitant Form Letter 

RL-107C. Release Form Letter RL-107D to the representative payee.

D. Non-custodian representative payee selected - When a representative payee is 

selected for an annuitant with a third party acting as the annuitant's custodian, 

release Form Letter RL-107F to the custodian. This letter advises the custodian 

of the selection of the representative payee, requests they notify the RRB when 

custody changes, the annuitant dies or they have indications that the 

representative payee is not acting in the annuitant's best interest.

E. Change in custody of annuitant - Whenever custody of the annuitant changes in 

a representative payee case, field offices should release a Form Letter RL-107F 

to the new custodian.
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Note: For further instructions on handling representative payee cases involving direct 

deposit, see FOM-I-1420.25.3. 

1425.5.3 Denials

Disallow an application for a representative payee when:

1. A Form AA-5 is submitted by a person who is not selected as representative 

payee; or 

2. It is determined that the annuitant can manage annuity payments on his own 

behalf. 

Send Form Letter RL-107E to the person not selected as representative payee and 

complete Form AA-5.1. Send the documents, along with the denied AA-5 application, to 

Imaging. 

1425.10 Appeals

Under the Code of Federal Regulations, the decision to appoint a representative payee 

and who shall be appointed to serve as representative payee are considered to be initial 

decisions by the RRB and are subject to reconsideration. The provisions for who is 

granted the right to file for reconsideration and when the right is granted in 

representative payee appointment situations is described below.

1425.10.1 Non-appealable Decisions

Annuitants under age l8 do not have the right to appeal the RRB's decision to pay a 

representative payee. (These annuitants do have the right to contest the finding that he 

or she is, in fact, under age 18.)

Annuitants who have been found to be legally incompetent do not have the right to 

appeal the RRB’s decision to pay a representative payee. (These annuitants do have 

the right to contest the finding that he or she has been found to be legally incompetent.)

Applicants to serve as the representative payee for an annuitant do not have the right to 

appeal the RRB’s denial of their application to serve as representative payee. 

1425.10.2 Appealable Decisions

Annuitants over age 18 who have not been found to be legally incompetent have the 

right to appeal both the RRB's decision to pay a representative payee and who is 

selected to serve as their representative payee .

Annuitants under age 18 have the right to appeal the fact that he or she is, in fact, under 

age 18. (These annuitants do not have the right to appeal the RRB’s decision to pay a 

representative payee.)
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Annuitants found to be legally incompetent have the right to appeal the fact that he has 

been found to be legally incompetent. (These annuitants do not have the right to appeal 

the RRB’s decision to pay a representative payee.)