Can Social Security Disability or SSI Benefits be Garnished to Pay Past Due Child Support?
Can a custodial parent who is owed past due child support turn to Social Security to collect that child support from a disability recipient? Yes, according to Social Security Ruling 79-4, the Social Security Administration can withhold a percentage of a claimant’s benefits in an amount equal to what SSA could withhold to pay delinquent income tax debt.
No interest or penalties may be withheld, and before the first withholding may commence, SSA must give the claimant 60 days notice.
The rules appear to be different when the disability benefits in question are SSI (supplemental security income) benefits. The web site esocialsecurityappeal.com states that a “custodial parent has no right to any of the proceeds from SSI.” Tim Moore, the editor of DisabilitySecrets.com also states that SSI recipients will not have their monthly disability benefits and past due benefits seize. According to Mr. Moore, the rationale to protect SSI from levy relates to the nature of SSI as a welfare benefit: “since SSI is essentially a public welfare benefit and does not derive not from a claimant’s earnings record, SSI benefits cannot be taken for other purposes, just as food stamps and AFDC funds, likewise, cannot be seized.”
Comments on Can Social Security Disability or SSI Benefits be Garnished to Pay Past Due Child Support?
I think this ssi/child support rule is ridiculous. My grandbaby receives no child support, due to the fact that her mentally ill father receives ssi. Instead, my husband and I are helping to support her. I understand the comparison to afdc/foodstamps, but still, many people who cannot afford their child support are still forced to find a way to pay. People on ssi should not be allowed to have children, then, if they do not intend to support them until they are 18.
While I agree that folks unable to pay for their children should not be making them…that is a two sided responsibility. If mom knows dad is disabled and unable to work..or just plain knows he’s irresponsible then mom should take the initiative to be sure a child is not brought into the mix! I work in this stuff, I’m tired of the attitude that the non-custodial parent should be impoverished to the point that they must live in box under a bridge to pay child support…both parents had a part in the birth of the child…mom/dad knows very well how responsible the other parent is likely to be… As for grandparents paying for the grandbaby…well you know grandma/grandpa you made that choice, perhaps if mommy didn’t think she had you for a safety net she would have thought twice about having a baby. In many states support is so high that the non-custodial parent is allowed nothing for themselves to live on..so then we have custody battles based not on the best interests of the child but the best interests of the wallet. After 18 years in this stuff I believe that you should have to have a license to make a child just as you have to have one to drive, be a dentist, be a lawyer or lots of other professions requiring personal responsibility…………. Parents disabled after the fact don’t choose to be injured and should not have everything taken from them.
Not all people recieving SSI have not worked.
Your assumption is that all children of parents recieving SSI were born at a time the individual was not employed. This is not true, many parents become disabled before the have paid in enough in Social Security tax to draw Social Security Disablity. At the time the child was born, the could afford them. Your logic is simular to the logic that all failed mortgages were ‘bad’ mortages because the the person could not afford the house. It does not allow for the possiblity of job loss.
Individuals receiving SSI (Supplemental Security Income) have not paid enough in Social Security tax before becoming disabled in order to recieve SSDI (Social Security Disablity Income). The amount a person on SSDI gets per month is based on how many how much Social Security taxes they paid before becoming disabled. Unlike SSDI, SSI is ‘needs’ based. Except for a home, those are not allowed to have much in the way of resources. They will have to exhaust them in order to recieve SSI. Also, unlike SSDI which recgonizes partial disablities, a person recieving SSI must be 100 percent perminately and totally disabled.
Make no mistake about it, people recieving SSI (and many on SSDI) are trying to survive on an income that is below the Federal Poverity guidelines. The amount of monthly payment an individual for the year 2010 is $674. That is a total of $8088 a year. A person is considered to be living below 100 percent of the Federal Poverity level if their annual income is less than $10,831 per year. The difference is $2743 a year. Have you tried living on $674 a month in today’s economy?
You’ve missed the whole point here. It’s not that these people don’t intend to support their children, they can’t support their children!
Did your daughter’s have no part in the child’s conception? Was she unaware of the father’s condition at the time or did it happen before he become disabled. If the later, in what crystal ball was he supposed to look and know what would happen to him? In the end, she is the only one who could make the choice to have the child. Regardless of what the situation was, unless she was incapable of making the decision for herself, the father had no say in the matter!
But, what really bothers me is that you seem to be suggesting we sterilize people who are living in poverity and can’t afford to have children. If so, that would be everyone on SSI, most on SSDI, everyone on foodstamps and or unemployment benefits, and just about every college and techincal school student in the country. We mustn’t forget most of the people getting Social Security Retirement benefits or a lot of single parents and a many poor parents!
Did you know that in 2007, 37 million people or 12.6 percent of Americans were living in poverity in this nation and that in 2008 the number rose to 39.8 million or 13.2 percent? That’s about 1 in 7. The figure for this year are expected to be even higher due to the rise in unemployment.
One last thing, again using your logic, your daughter should not have allowed to become pregnant because she couldn’t afford to have a child either. Remember, the courts have determined that unless the mother is incompacitated, the father has no say as to whether or not the child is born. The decision as to carry to term was legally hers alone!
My soon to be ex-husband has not been disabled since we have been married… in Feb 08 he had attempted suicide and has anoxic brain damage, while he was in coma i found out i was pregnant. Now my husband refuses paternity and is very delusional. But anyways my comment is: I went to get a mediation with FOC and they said that he only has to pay 27.88 a MONTH in childsupport when his income from SSI is 672 a month and i am working at a daycare part time for minimum wage i have been looking for a job like crazy but havent been lucky. So my average weekly paycheck is only around 150.00 making my monthy income 600.00 which is less than his income. My husband has no interest in being a part of my sons life and could care less if he has anything… What i dont understand is how they let him get away with 27.88 a month because all these divorce calculators of amounts non-custiodal parent should be paying in childsupport say its 10% of income which would be 67.00 a month. My main issue is that i know for a fact that the place he lives he does not pay a dime to live there and he doesnt have any bills that he pays monthly, and i know i sound like a emotional ex but he spends every dime of his ssi check on drugs.. And to top it off he did all this to himself its not like he got in a car accident? I don’t get why they wouldn’t make him pay more considering everything and the fact that he makes more than i do on ssi? I filed all my divorce papers myself and am representing myself and im not sure if i can do anything or say anything that may pursued the judge to see things for what they truely are in this case?…I called the legal aid hotline and its always busy so i cant get anybody and my divorce is scheduled soon so i gotta turn in this paperwork i just don’t know if its worth my time to try to get 67.00 for my monthly payment instead of 27.88 because i heard they wont make someone on ssi pay more than that a month. WHICH IS BS.
BUT WHAT IS MOM CHOOSES NOT TO WORK AND FILES JUST SO SHE DOESNT HAVE TO PAY DAD THE CUSTODIAL PARENT CHILD SUPPORT THAT IS THE SITUATION WE ARE IN..