If a claimant, recipient, or deemor gives us financial permission, the permission is valid until a terminating event occurs. The following terminating events only apply prospectively and do not invalidate the permission for past periods:

• •

  the claimant or deemor cancels their financial permission in writing to us,

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  a deemor’s income and resources are no longer available to the claimant (e.g., when spouses separate or divorce or a child turns age 18),

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  a claimant is denied benefits and the determination or decision becomes final and non-appealable, or

• •

  a recipient’s eligibility for benefits terminates.

If a claimant, recipient or deemor, who refused to give or cancelled financial permission, later agrees to give us financial permission, the claimant or recipient, if otherwise eligible, can receive benefits beginning the month after the month we receive financial permission. The claimant or recipient cannot receive benefits for any of the months where the claimant, recipient or deemor did not give financial permission and we did not find good cause.

Minor children and legally incompetent adults cannot give us financial permission. If the claimant or recipient is a minor child, then a parent or legal guardian must give us financial permission on their behalf. If the claimant or recipient is a legally incompetent adult, the legal guardian must give us financial permission on behalf of the claimant or recipient.

Competent adults must give us financial permission, even if they have a representative payee. A representative payee can only give us financial permission on behalf of a claimant or recipient where the claimant or recipient is:

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  a minor child and the payee is a parent of the child,

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  a minor child and the payee is the legal guardian of the child, or

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  an incompetent adult and the payee is the legal guardian of the incompetent adult.

To obtain financial permission during an initial claim, Pre-effectuation Review Contact (PERC), or redetermination from a claimant, recipient, or deemor who is physically unable to give financial permission (e.g., is paralyzed and unable to communicate clearly or is comatose), and who does not have an existing legal guardian, follow the procedures in SI 00601.012B.3.

Document on a Report of Contact page the reason the claimant, recipient, or deemor cannot provide financial permission. If the third party acting on behalf of the claimant, recipient, or deemor denies permission, proceed to deny or suspend benefits according to instructions in SI 00515.001F.

Deemors, parents, and legal guardians are required to give us financial permission. In some situations, claimants or recipients may be unable to obtain financial permission from a deemor, parent, or legal guardian.

For example, if we cannot obtain financial permission from a deemor because the deemor is harassing, abusing, or endangering the life of the claimant or recipient, we may find that a good cause exception from the requirement exists. For more information, see SI 00515.002.

In addition, in certain situations, we may find a good cause exception if the claimant or recipient acted in good faith to obtain financial permission and cooperated with us in our efforts to obtain permission from the deemor. For more information on good cause, see SI 00515.003.

You must request permission to contact financial institutions for all redeterminations that require contact with the recipient and where documentation of previously given financial permission does not exist. Obtain permission from recipients and deemors on high, middle, low-error profile and unscheduled redeterminations, including those received in the field office (FO) after transfer from the Wilkes-Barre Direct Operations Center (WBDOC).

When processing resource-related limited issues, ensure financial permission is present in the Financial Institutions Permission page. If the recipient turned age 18 since the last time we collected permission from a parent or legal guardian, collect permission from the recipient or legal guardian and record the date you collect the permission on the Financial Institutions Permission page.

Explain the requirement of providing financial permission and take the following actions to obtain financial permission from the claimant or recipient:

• •

  If the claimant or recipient gives us financial permission, record the Financial Institutions Permission page with a Yes.

• •

  If the claimant or recipient turned age 18 since we last collected permission, you must collect permission again and indicate in the Financial Institutions Permission page whether you collected permission from the claimant, recipient, or legal guardian, and record the date.

• •

  If the claimant, recipient or deemor does not give us financial permission, deny or suspend benefits as described in SI 00515.001F.

Obtaining financial permission when claimant, recipient, or deemor is unavailable

Complete the “permission to contact financial institutions” question on the Financial Institutions Permission page by selecting "unknown” for a claimant, recipient, or deemor who is unavailable to answer the financial permission question until you can obtain an answer to the question.

Obtain permission either by phone or a financial permission request letter.

If a claimant, recipient, or deemor is unavailable at the time of the interview, try to obtain financial permission by phone by taking the following actions:

1. a. 

   Contact the individual by phone and explain the requirement of providing financial permission. Fully explain what the permission means and how long it lasts;

2. b. 

   Record the individual’s response on the Financial Institutions Permission page;

3. c. 

   Follow the attestation procedures for telephone interviews described in GN 00201.015F;

4. d. 

   If the claimant, recipient, or deemor gives permission, print and mail a copy of the financial permission summary letter available as a print option in the Printing and Signatures page.

5. e. 

   If the claimant, recipient, or deemor does not give permission, deny or suspend benefits as described in SI 00515.001F in this section.

When we cannot obtain financial permission because the claimant, recipient, or deemor is not available in-person or by phone, use one of these financial permission request letters:

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  For claimants or recipients, use the letter entitled “Financial Permission Request – Claimant (T16).”

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  For deemors, use the letter entitled “Financial Permission Request – Deemor (T16).”

Both letters are located in the General section of the Document Processing System (DPS). The two versions contain different language, so verify that you are using the appropriate letter.

Take the following actions to obtain permission with a financial permission request letter:

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  Print the appropriate financial permission request letter from DPS and mail the letter directly to the absent individual to complete and sign.

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  Control for receipt of the financial permission request letter on the Development Worksheet page.

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  Record the response on the Financial Institutions Permission page when the individual returns the financial permission request letter.

• •

  If the individual gives permission, return the original copy of the financial permission request letter to the individual.

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  If the individual returns the financial permission request letter with a “no” response, deny or suspend benefits as described in this section at SI 00515.001F.

• •

  If the letter has not been returned within 15 days, follow up with the individual (and claimant or recipient if the absent individual is a deemor) by phone or mail.

• •

  If the individual fails to return the letter within the 30-day close out period, deny or suspend benefits as described in SI 00515.001F.

Because the ineligible spouse is not required to provide information or attest to claim facts, we do not print their financial permission on the application. For information regarding signing applications, see SI 00604.111A.2.

We must obtain the ineligible spouse’s financial permission separately by taking the following actions:

• •

  If the ineligible spouse is available in person, explain the requirement of providing financial permission and print a “Financial Permission Request – Deemor (T16)” letter from the General section of DPS.

• •

  Ask the ineligible spouse to complete and sign the financial permission request letter. If the ineligible spouse gives financial permission, record the “yes” response on the Financial Institutions Permission page and return the original copy to the ineligible spouse.

• •

  If the ineligible spouse does not give us financial permission, record the “no” response on the Financial Institutions Permission page and deny or suspend benefits as described in this section SI 00515.001F.

• •

  If the ineligible spouse is not available in person, follow the procedures in this section SI 00515.001D.2.

Explain the requirement of providing financial permission and take the following actions to obtain financial permission from the claimant or recipient:

• •

  During initial claims and redeterminations, collect the claimant or recipient’s permission in the form SSA-8000 (Application for Supplemental Security Income), SSA-8202 (Statement For Determining Continuing Eligibility For Supplemental Security Income Payment), and SSA-8203 (Statement for Determining Continuing Eligibility for Supplemental Security Income Payments), respectively.

• •

  During a resource related limited issue, print a copy of the “Financial Permission Request - Claimant (T16)” letter from the General section of DPS. Have the individual read and sign the document.

• •

  If the claimant or recipient gives us financial permission, record in Shared Processes (EVID) that we obtained permission, including the date. For resource related limited issues, return the signed permission request letter to the claimant or recipient.

• •

  If the recipient turned age 18 since the last time we collected financial permission from a parent or legal guardian, obtain a signed SSA-795, Statement of Claimant or Other Person, indicating whether the claimant, recipient or legal guardian gave permission as of the date the claimant or recipient turned age 18, and the date that permission was collected. Fax and store the SSA-795 in the Non-Disability Repository for Evidentiary Documents (NDRED) using the Evidence Portal (EP).

• •

  If the claimant or recipient does not give us financial permission, deny or suspend benefits as described in SI 00515.001F.

Explain the requirement of providing financial permission and take the following actions to obtain permission from the deemor:

• •

  Print a copy of the “Financial Permission Request - Deemor (T16)” letter from the General section of DPS.

• •

  Ask the deemor to read and sign the document.

• •

  If the deemor gives financial permission, record in EVID that we obtained permission and include the date the deemor gave permission. Return the signed financial permission request letter to the deemor.

• •

  If the deemor does not give financial permission, and good cause does not apply, deny or suspend benefits as described in SI 00515.001F.

When a claimant, recipient, or deemor is unavailable to answer the financial permission question at the time of the interview, take the following actions to obtain permission:

• •

  Print the appropriate financial permission request letter from DPS and mail the letter directly to the absent individual to complete and sign.

• •

  Control for receipt of the financial permission request letter by using the Modernized Development Worksheet (MDW) with a 15-day tickle. For instructions on completing the MDW and a list of nationally defined categories, see MSOM MDW 001.003.

• •

  When the claimant, recipient, or deemor returns the financial permission request letter and gives us permission, record in EVID that we obtained financial permission and include the date.

• •

  Return the signed financial permission request letter to the individual.

• •

  If the claimant, recipient, or deemor does not give financial permission, and good cause does not apply, deny or suspend benefits as described in SI 00515.001F.

If a claimant does not give us financial permission, they cannot be eligible for SSI benefits and we must deny the claim. If a deemor does not give permission, and good cause does not apply, the claimant is not eligible for benefits and we must deny the claim.

If a recipient does not give or cancels financial permission, suspend benefits effective with the month after the month in which the recipient receives the suspension notice.

If a deemor does not give or cancels financial permission, and good cause does not apply, suspend the recipient’s benefits effective with the month after the month that the recipient receives the suspension notice. For instructions on undeliverable mail, see SI 02301.240.

We allow 5 days for the recipient to receive the suspension notice. For example, we send the financial permission suspension notice on November 28 (November 28 + 5 days = December 3), we would suspend benefits in January since January is the month following the month the recipient received the suspension notice.