The automatic process for mailing a follow-up mailing to nonresponders occurs as follows:

1. 1. 

   Send an initial form to all eligible young surviving spouses. The young surviving spouse has 90 days to complete and return the form.

2. 2. 

   Send the young surviving spouse a follow-up notice marked “final request” if we do not receive a response to the initial mailing.

3. 3. 

   Allow the young surviving spouse an additional 90 day period to return the completed form.

4. 4. 

   Send a S9 RECONT Suspension Notice if the young surviving spouse does not return the completed form after the second 90 days have elapsed (180 days total).

   NOTE: The BENEFIT line on the Master Beneficiary Record (MBR) will display a reason for suspension or termination (RFST) of RECONT.

5. 5. 

   Place the young surviving spouse in suspense ledger account file (LAF) S9 RECONT.

6. 6. 

   Send a termination notice and terminate benefits (LAF T3 REMARR) if the young surviving spouse does not return the form or contact us within 60 days of the suspension notice (we are now at 240 days from the initial request).

7. 7. 

   Terminate benefits LAF T3 RECONM.

8. 8. 

   Adjust the benefit rates to the remaining auxiliaries receiving benefits on the record if applicable.

For more information about the automated systems features, see MSOM COMMON 005.028.

The RFST code appears on the BENEFIT line on the MBR. For information on the BENEFIT data line, see SM 00510.175C.11. If we suspended or terminated benefits due to failure to return the Beneficiary Recontact Report Form, the RFST field will display RECONT (suspension) or RECONM (termination).

NOTE: Residents of Puerto Rico receive the form in both English and Spanish.

Take the following actions to process the RETAP Alert if we have not reinstated the young surviving spouse:

1. 1. 

   Develop to determine if there could have been an earlier date of marriage in order to determine the correct overpayment.

2. 2. 

   Attempt DIRCON and ask the young surviving spouse when they married and whether or not they have a child-in-care.

3. 3. 

   Input any correction to the date of marriage on the MBR via the Postentitlement Online System (POS).

4. 4. 

   Send a Modernized Development Worksheet (MDW) or a Processing Center Action Control System (PCACS) Request for Assistance to request to the field office (FO) to contact the young surviving spouse for the actual date of marriage as a last resort when DIRCON is unsuccessful.

5. 5. 

   Reinstate benefits through the Manual Adjustment, Credit, and Award Data Entry (MACADE) system if the young surviving spouse reports there has been no marriage.

When the United States Postal Service (USPS) returns the mailing as undeliverable with no forwarding address, the Wilkes-Barre Data Operating Center (WBDOC) scans this material into a file and the system updates the RECNTACT line to show undeliverable. This action generates an alert to the PSC for development. The PSC should follow the instructions in GN 02605.055B. to develop for a good address.

RETAP will again automatically select the record effective with the RECONTACT UNDELIVERABLE date plus 3 months if a new address has been annotated to the MBR per SM 03020.230F.

• •

  WB 01001.015 Process forms SSA-1587-OCR-SM/1588 - Undeliverable

• •

  GN 02605.055 Title II Undeliverable Mail – Change of Address (COA)

• •

  MSOM COMMON 005.028 Recontact (RQUD)