Social Security Continues Debt Collections Against Family Members
The Washington Post has had several articles over the last two years, examining records of debt collection effforts and individual cases where “overpayments” are alleged by the Social Security Administration, leading to claims not just against the direct beneficiaries of the benefits, but also against family members. Sometimes the claims are made many years after the alleged payments took place, making it hard for families to understand the basis of the claims or to defend against the claims. In April of 2014, as we summarized here, following protests the SSA announced it was immediately suspending its intercept program — used to target IRS tax refunds — for purposes of stale debt collection. As I commented then, it seemed SSA was more concerned about the government’s “self help” approach to debt collection, than answering questions about how and why it was seeking refunds from children of the alleged debtors.
Is this a SSA-specific form of “filial support” claims, where children are liable for certain debts of their parents, or are the claims based on a theory of indirect benefit to the children?
George Washington Law Professor Naomi Cahn alerted us to the latest news on renewed debt collection by SSA from the Washington Post. (Thanks, Naomi!) Some of the same families who were granted refunds of intercepts earlier in the year, were once again asked to pay their ancestors’ debts. Five of the families have filed a lawsuit to seek answers, and the Post has also asked for an explanation, apparently with less than satisfactory results:
“Asked to explain the about-face, Social Security officials said they would respond only to written questions. Late Friday, four days after The Post provided questions, the agency issued this statement from spokesman Mark Hinkle: ‘We are finalizing our review of the Treasury offset program, but cannot discuss specifics due to the pending litigation.’ The offset program is Treasury’s effort to collect on debts to Social Security and other agencies by confiscating Americans’ tax refunds.”
For more on the controversy, read Marc Fisher’s article, “Social Security Continuing to Pursue Claims for Old Debts Against Family Members” from the Washington Post.