Effective Dates: 05/23/2023 - Present Previous | Next

TN 84 (05-23)

GN 00502.183 Making a Payee Appointment Determination

A. Policy for appointing a representative payee

Extreme care and reasonable judgment is needed in deciding whether a payee is needed and, if so, who to appoint as representative payee.

B. Procedure for appointing a representative payee

Consider all evidence available in making your final decision on the payee appointment.

REMEMBER: A payee applicant who has been selected payee for a beneficiary will not be considered the “payee of record” until the beneficiary has been afforded their appeal rights (via the advance notice when applicable) and benefits have been certified to the proposed payee.

1. Written documentation required

You must carefully document the payee application to capture the relevant details concerning the payee appointment. For information on documenting payee selections and non-selections, including questions that arise about the payee’s suitability, see GN 00502.185.

2. Joint guardians appointed as payee

Show the payee legend using the same wording as shown in the guardianship court order. Use the relationship of the first named guardian to code the type of payee and, if applicable, custody. For additional information, see Additional Development/Considerations When Guardian is Involved in GN 00502.139, and for eRPS coding instructions, see GN 00502.112B.2.

CAUTION: Only court appointed guardians can be named joint payees. Do not appoint any other joint payees.

3. Beneficiary entitled to two or more benefits

Appoint one payee for all benefits to which the beneficiary is entitled. You only need to obtain one application from the payee for a beneficiary with multiple benefit entitlements. If the beneficiary becomes entitled to a new benefit after the initial payee appointment, contact the existing payee as a separate representative payee application is needed for the subsequent benefit.

C. References

  • •

    GN 00502.132 Selecting a Qualified Representative Payee (RP)

  • •

    GN 00502.185 Documenting and Processing Payee Selections and Non-Selections in eRPS

To Link to this section - Use this URL:
http://policy.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0200502183
GN 00502.183 - Making a Payee Appointment Determination - 05/23/2023
Batch run: 05/23/2023
Rev:05/23/2023