You probably are reading this booklet because you have volunteered to serve as someone's representative payee. If so, we appreciate your help in seeing that the benefits this person receives are used for his or her personal care and well-being. As you read this booklet, you'll find an explanation of your responsibilities as a representative payee and how to keep track of what you spend on the beneficiary's behalf. About 25 percent of the people who get SSI, and about 10 percent of the people who get Social Security, have payees. Adults who are unable to manage their finances because of severe physical or mental limitations also need payees.
People often work out other ways to handle a family member's finances to suit their needs.
For Social Security purposes, however, such an arrangement is not an acceptable way to provide for management of a person's monthly benefits. As a representative payee, you need to keep informed about the individual's needs so that you can decide how benefits can best be used for his or her personal care and well-being. This is particularly important if the beneficiary doesn't live with you. Any money left after meeting the beneficiary's current and reasonably foreseeable needs must be saved and maintained in the beneficiary's behalf. Periodically, Social Security will ask you to complete a form accounting for the funds you have received.