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Angel
Lv 5
Angel asked in Politics & GovernmentLaw & Ethics · 1 decade ago

SSI laws regarding disclaiming inheritence ?

I have a friend who has been disabled since her early 20's and is on the lowest level income that social security provides. Her Mother and Father passed away and she is now on her own.

She was told by an attorney that specialized in SSI that legally she should disclaim the monies that were left to her so that she would not lose her SSI. She signed thousands over to her Brother and Sister without getting anything out of it at all.

Now the IRS has sent information to Social Security regarding her disclaiming this money (thousands of dollars) and Social Security is saying she legally should not have done the disclaiming of monies and want to cut her off for a period of years to make up for the monies that she has never received by disclaiming all of it.

Does anyone know what is the proper way of handling an inheritance when you are on SSI and don't and can not lose your only income?

Why would an attorney tell her to do this if this was not the legal way to handle the situation?

Any help I would be grateful for

1 Answer

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  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    Someone this attorney gave her bad if not fraudulent advice. She needs someone to act in her stead. she needs to have a guardian appointed for her if she cannot understand these issues most likely court appointed. As a friend you can request such a situation for her, discuss it with her. Second she should take no further advice from that Attorney and if she received anything in writing telling he to do what you said keep in safe to turn over to the courts. She will need to request or have requested her medical record from her present Doctor as well as from the Doctors used in her SSI filling. Third she needs to request a hearing with a regional officer of SSI with her doctor present or yourself or someone she really trusts to help her straighten this out. The monies she could inherit do not need to be paid back for SSI monies, were needed for the disabilities were current and true. She also received them it seems before the inheritance issue because they didn't exist until whatever time period; which is the crux of the situation. Also report it to the courts about the brother and sister issue but caution as they may seek to have control over her eventually. Good luck to you both.

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