Dear Larry,

My name is Pete and I'm an Engineering Professor. I'm writing you after having read some past articles of yours in Forbes on Social Security scams.

Here's my situation: Two weeks ago I received a letter from the SSA indicating that I owe them $17K in "overpaid benefits" (I've only been paying *them* since 2001). I plan to submit a request for reconsideration to my local SSA office but the situation is more complicated than it looks and, most likely, linked to my deceased father. He lived in Athens, Greece (I grew up there ; am dual citizen) but had worked, as a Green Card Holder, for13 years in the US. Upon my Mom's passing in 2014, I signed him up for survivor benefits via the Federal Benefits Unit at the US Embassy in Athens.

All was going fine until summer 2019, when he received a letter that he had been overpaid and owed the SSA $22K. Another letter came in two months later, indicating $27K in overpayment, with his benefit payments being halted at that exact point. The FBU-Athens unit was pathetically unresponsive (only accessible via online portal) and only acted in Dec. 2020 when I filed a complaint with the Embassy (I was on sabbatical in Athens). They helped me file a request for reconsideration which they supposedly submitted to the US SSA. My Dad passed away in Feb. 2021. We had received no mail from the SSA at my Dad's Greek address until Aug. 2020 when I returned to the US.

In an email communication with FBU Athens this past December, I was told by them that they "couldn't locate" the reconsideration request they had submitted for me in 12/20. They have disappeared since and now I got this letter.

I think the root of the issue is that the Aug. 2019 indicates (it's not clear) that my father received a higher survivor benefit than he was supposed, despite previous letters reassuring of the opposite. All this 4 years after the survivor benefits were originally set up.

It's been tough to find a lawyer who can guide me and I do plan to go and inquire with my local SSA office in Ithaca, NY. However, I'm wondering if you have any advice on how one might deal with this situation ? I feel I owe nothing to SSA and my Dad never received a clear explanation of why they believed he had been overpaid.

Thank you so much for your time !

Pete

Hi Pete. I'm sorry about your loss of your father. Nothing that you've stated in your question explains why Social Security would be seeking to recover your father's overpayment from you. Social Security can seek recovery of a deceased person's overpayment from the person's estate, or if the estate has been closed then the beneficiaries of the estate can be held liable up to the extent of any proceeds they received from the deceased's estate that are still in their possession when notified of the overpayment (https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0202205001).

Whether or not you are actually liable for the overpayment, to resolve the issue you will likely need to do one or both of the following. One option would be to appeal the fact of or amount of the overpayment, and the other option is to file for waiver. The first step of appeal is a reconsideration, and you'd need to request that within 60 days of the overpayment notice if you're questioning whether or not the overpayment facts are accurate (https://secure.ssa.gov/iApplNMD/start).

A waiver is what you request if you accept that the overpayment is accurate, but if you believe that you are not at fault in causing the overpayment and you either can't afford to repay the overpayment or if recovery of the overpayment would be unfair due to a reason specified in the regulations (https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0202250150).

Honestly, it sounds like your situation is quite complicated and I can't really offer you much specific advice without knowing the full facts of your and your father's case.

Best, Jerry