Social Security

[DsmithAsmith]

What is the name of your state? CA

A friend of mine is trying to straighten out some information regarding his Child support let me give you a little background-

My friend has 2 children from 2 seperate mothers. He has 2 open child support cases. The mothers live in 2 different counties. One is close to us, the other is 10 hours away. For the past 5+ years my friend has recieved SSI and supplimental social security (the extra money you get if you worked and paid in to disability). His son who lives close to where he lives recieves part of his supplemental social security. He pays no additional child support to that child. His daughter who lives far, does not recieve social security. He is in arrears on his CS from that child b/c he can not afford to pay.

I thought there were laws that they could not persue child support out of the SSI, but they could count the supplemental as income and take some of that, which is fine.

The question is does anyone know if this is actually true, and if so how does he get his CS modified in the county which is FAR. He cant afford to go down there. And can he get his arrears reduced since he has been on SSI and not capable of working??

FYI the arrears from his son whom is close to where he lives are from welfare, the arrears for his daughter who lives far away are non-welfare.

 

[BL]

http://ssa-custhelp.ssa.gov/cgi-bin...3NlYXJjaF90ZXh0PWdhcm5pc2g*&p_li=&p_topview=1

Can Social Security benefits be garnished to pay a debt?

Answer
Section 207 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 407) protects Social Security benefits from assignment, levy, or garnishment. However, the law provides five exceptions:

Section 459 of the Act (42 U.S.C. 659) allows Social Security benefits to be garnished to enforce child support and/or alimony obligations;
Section 6334 (c) of the Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. 6334 (c)) allows benefits to be garnished to collect unpaid Federal taxes;
Section 3402 (P) of the Internal Revenue Code allows beneficiaries to elect to have a percentage of their benefits withheld and paid to the Internal Revenue Service to satisfy their Federal income tax liability for the current year;
The Debt Collection Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-134) allows benefits to be withheld and paid to another Federal agency to pay a non-tax debt the beneficiary owes to that agency: and
The Tax Payer Relief Act of 1997 (Public Law 105-34) authorizes the Internal Revenue Service to collect overdue federal tax debts of beneficiaries by levying up to 15 percent of each monthly payment until the debt is paid.
The Social Security Administration's responsibility for protecting benefits against legal process and assignment usually ends when the beneficiary is paid. However, once paid, benefits continue to be protected under section 207 of the Act only as long as they are identifiable as Social Security benefits. This applies to money in a bank account where the only payments into the account are from direct deposit of Social Security benefits.

NOTE: Supplemental Security Income payments cannot be levied or garnished.


The only way to Modify the Order(s) is to Petition the Court and go to the Hearing(s) with proofs , or retain the services of an Attorney for respresentation.

You have SSI & SSDI backwards on garnishemts .

The child's income IF SSI , is most likely due to her own disabilty . If from DAD's DI it would be from his ( work history -SSDI ) , and countable towards Child Support .

 

[DsmithAsmith]

Thanks for your response, the SSI/SSDI ect. is what makes it unclear to us (all the abriviations are confusing). The child recieves SSDI, he is not disabled himself.

Does anyone know if the child is recieving part of my friends check, or if it is similar to survivor benifits and the child gets his own money? My friend has tried to find out from SS as well as the childs mother as to the amount of the check, and neither will tell him. He does want to provide for his children however he would like to provide for them equally. How would he go about having CSE in the county far from here looking into SSDI for his daughter. Right now she is getting nothing. He would like her to be able to recieve some of his SSDI as well, even if it does reduce his check. He is just not sure how to go about it; does he just suggest to his daughters mother, or does he have to go through CSE so they modify the order at the same time?