Women needs justice

[fire_and_ice]

A 71 year old female friend of mine almost had a heart attack when opening up a letter from the Social Security Dept. It turns out they over paid her $71,000 and demanded the money back in 30 days. What recourse (besides paying an attorney) is there for this lady frind of mine? She lives in Calif. She knows of an attorney with Gonzaga Univ in Washington who helps people with these types of problems.

 

[Newbie2]

A 71 year old female friend of mine almost had a heart attack when opening up a letter from the Social Security Dept. It turns out they over paid her $71,000 and demanded the money back in 30 days. What recourse (besides paying an attorney) is there for this lady frind of mine? She lives in Calif. She knows of an attorney with Gonzaga Univ in Washington who helps people with these types of problems.

Best to get an attorney…you can’t fight city hall alone. Perhaps there are some free legal services available in your area to seniors?

 

[Christy_Beth]

I know that there is an attorney here in town that does that sort of thing. If I remember correctly, you only pay if you win the case and it’s based on anything you receive. As has already been said, she can’t do this on her own.

 

[Newbie2]

I know that there is an attorney here in town that does that sort of thing. If I remember correctly, you only pay if you win the case and it’s based on anything you receive. As has already been said, she can’t do this on her own.

This may be different than a civil lawsuit where an attorney may work on commission…in this case, it looks like she’s not looking to receive monitary compensation, but get some debt relief…if sher really owes back that money. The feds are not know to be mistake-free.

If there’s no money in it, pretty much any attorney would be working pro-bono or would be paid by a charitable organization.

Either way she shouldn’t try to do it on her own.

 

[vern_humphrey]

I know that there is an attorney here in town that does that sort of thing. If I remember correctly, you only pay if you win the case and it’s based on anything you receive. As has already been said, she can’t do this on her own.

The problem is, she isn’t suing them, they’re suing her. So if she wins the case, she won’t get a dime – all she’ll get is to keep what she has.

Yes, she should have an attorney – preferrably one who will work pro bono. She should contact her local Bar Association to locate such an attorney. She should also send the Social Security Administration a letter immediately saying she disagrees with their claim, and asking them what appeal processes are open to her. She should state that no collection effort should be initiated until the appeals are exhausted.

Then she should contact the media and make as much noise as possible. She should also contact her Congressional delegation – and if possible, get the media to call them and interview them about her case.

 

[Holly3278]

If I were her, I’d be looking for some free or low cost attorneys to help her out. That said, I am praying for this woman.

 

[vern_humphrey]

If I were her, I’d be looking for some free or low cost attorneys to help her out. That said, I am praying for this woman.

And my post above tells her how to do that – along with other concrete steps she can take herself.

 

[fire_and_ice]

Thank you all for caring!

 

[drafdog]

“Almost” only counts in horseshoes. She has no basis for a law suit. The check was an obvious error and she knows full well that she is not entitled to it. Help her send the money back.

Matthew

 

[JonW]

I’m confused. If they overpaid her, why not simply give the money back? She is not entitled to the money, so if she kept it, that would constitute theft. Am I missing something here?

God Bless

Jon Winterburn

 

[LilyM]

“Almost” only counts in horseshoes. She has no basis for a law suit. The check was an obvious error and she knows full well that she is not entitled to it. Help her send the money back.

Matthew

Where do you get off presuming to know all this? There’s nothing in the OP’s post that indicates either that the money was truly improperly paid to her, or that she knew she shouldn’t be receiving it.

Especially if, as seems entirely likely, it’s a matter of small or smallish overpayments over a lengthy time that’ve only just been discovered, rather than a huge lump sum. She may’ve just thought her benefit had been increased a little - it does happen sometimes, y’know.

I mean presumably if ANYONE had got a single check for this big lump sum that they weren’t expecting, then they would make inquiries about it before accepting it.

I’m confused. If they overpaid her, why not simply give the money back? She is not entitled to the money, so if she kept it, that would constitute theft. Am I missing something here?

God Bless

Jon Winterburn

See above - if it’s a question of small overpayments that they’ve been making for some time, as it highly likely is, then she probably didn’t even notice them and it’s all been spent.

In any event it’s not like elderly folks who are on benefits are going to have a spare $70-odd grand just lying around with which to pay them back. Besides which, she may actually be entitled to it and the authorities may be mistaken - I’m sure worse has happened. I’d certainly make them double check before just handing it straight back. She could almost certainly use the money.

 

[Ilroy]

Where do you get off presuming to know all this? There’s nothing in the OP’s post that indicates either that the money was truly improperly paid to her, or that she knew she shouldn’t be receiving it.

Especially if, as seems entirely likely, it’s a matter of small or smallish overpayments over a lengthy time that’ve only just been discovered, rather than a huge lump sum. She may’ve just thought her benefit had been increased a little - it does happen sometimes, y’know.

I mean presumably if ANYONE had got a single check for this big lump sum that they weren’t expecting, then they would make inquiries about it before accepting it.

See above - if it’s a question of small overpayments that they’ve been making for some time, as it highly likely is, then she probably didn’t even notice them and it’s all been spent.

In any event it’s not like elderly folks who are on benefits are going to have a spare $70-odd grand just lying around with which to pay them back. Besides which, she may actually be entitled to it and the authorities may be mistaken - I’m sure worse has happened. I’d certainly make them double check before just handing it straight back. She could almost certainly use the money.

Not a matter of a small raise in her pay…she would have gone on SS at about 65 which is for about 6 years. That comes out to an extra 980.00 per month(approx) for all 6 of those years…not an unnoticable amount. As to how they are saying she didn’t deserve it, see the OP…" It turns out they over paid her $71,000 and demanded the money back in 30 days."

I do agree that she needs to get legal help with this. I personally was overpaid by SS when I was getting disability years ago, and there was an appeals process to determine if it had to be paid back. In my case it had to be, but not all at once. I have a very small minimum payment, but pay much more each month…

 

[Marsha_Adams]

I’m confused. If they overpaid her, why not simply give the money back? She is not entitled to the money, so if she kept it, that would constitute theft. Am I missing something here?

God Bless

Jon Winterburn

What happens in many cases is that the government overpaid her a few hundred a month over several years. She may not have known she was being overpaid because if the error started after her husband died, for example, she knew her check would go down, but not by how much. Next thing she knows the government discovers its error and wants it all back in one lump sum right now today.

If she can’t pay it back in 30 days, the government will start taking it out of her social security check and she may not be able to live on what they give her.

 

[drafdog]

Lily, the only thing I presumed in my earlier post was that the woman in question had been receiving benefits for the last six years (71 - 65 = 6). If the amount overpaid was $71,000, then she was receiving nearly a thousand dollars too much each month. She surely knew (Social Security sends out periodic notices indicating what your current monthly payment should be) that she was being over paid.
She needs help setting up a plan to repay the government.

Matthew

 

[vz71]

Lily, the only thing I presumed in my earlier post was that the woman in question had been receiving benefits for the last six years (71 - 65 = 6). If the amount overpaid was $71,000, then she was receiving nearly a thousand dollars too much each month. She surely knew (Social Security sends out periodic notices indicating what your current monthly payment should be) that she was being over paid.
She needs help setting up a plan to repay the government.
Matthew

You also made the assumption that the money owed is legitimately owed back.
There is no reason to assume that at all. A clerical error started all of this, why assume that there was not a clerical error in the discovery?

You assumed that there was an obvious error in SS payment to her.

You assumed wrongdoing on her end.

You assumed the SS administration didn’t make an error

And you are still assuming she must pay. She may well not have to pay.

And the worst part of all…you assumed her guilt in the matter “She has no basis for a law suit. The check was an obvious error and she knows full well that she is not entitled to it.”

 

[LilyM]

Lily, the only thing I presumed in my earlier post was that the woman in question had been receiving benefits for the last six years (71 - 65 = 6). If the amount overpaid was $71,000, then she was receiving nearly a thousand dollars too much each month. She surely knew (Social Security sends out periodic notices indicating what your current monthly payment should be) that she was being over paid.
She needs help setting up a plan to repay the government.

Matthew

That’s an unjustified assumption to start with. It is quite likely that it could be some other form of benefit than an age-related pension that kicked in at 65 (for starters I know age pensions here can kick in as early as 60 for some women) - for example disbility of some kind.

Secondly if the Department itself didn’t know that it was overpaying her, there’s a good chance that it paid what IT thought she should get, and it would TELL her as well that that higher amount was what she should be getting.

 

[JonW]

See above - if it’s a question of small overpayments that they’ve been making for some time, as it highly likely is, then she probably didn’t even notice them and it’s all been spent.

In any event it’s not like elderly folks who are on benefits are going to have a spare $70-odd grand just lying around with which to pay them back. Besides which, she may actually be entitled to it and the authorities may be mistaken - I’m sure worse has happened. I’d certainly make them double check before just handing it straight back. She could almost certainly use the money.

What happens in many cases is that the government overpaid her a few hundred a month over several years. She may not have known she was being overpaid because if the error started after her husband died, for example, she knew her check would go down, but not by how much. Next thing she knows the government discovers its error and wants it all back in one lump sum right now today.

If she can’t pay it back in 30 days, the government will start taking it out of her social security check and she may not be able to live on what they give her.

Thank you Lily and Marsha. So I was confused; some things never change. That would make much more sense I suppose. In any case, maybe we should reserve judgment about what she needs to do and who, if anyone, is at fault, until we have all the info.

God Bless

Jon Winterburn