§ 404.2041. Who is liable if your representative payee misuses your benefits?

(a) A representative payee who misuses your benefits is responsible for paying back misused benefits. We will make every reasonable effort to obtain restitution of misused benefits so that we can repay these benefits to you.

(b) Whether or not we have obtained restitution from the misuser, we will repay benefits in cases when we determine that a representative payee misused benefits and the representative payee is an organization or an individual payee serving 15 or more beneficiaries. When we make restitution, we will pay you or your alternative representative payee an amount equal to the misused benefits less any amount we collected from the misuser and repaid to you.

(c) Whether or not we have obtained restitution from the misuser, we will repay benefits in cases when we determine that an individual representative payee serving 14 or fewer beneficiaries misused benefits and our negligent failure in the investigation or monitoring of that representative payee results in the misuse. When we make restitution, we will pay you or your alternative representative payee an amount equal to the misused benefits less any amount we collected from the misuser and repaid to you.

(d) The term “negligent failure” used in this subpart means that we failed to investigate or monitor a representative payee or that we did investigate or monitor a representative payee but did not follow established procedures in our investigation or monitoring. Examples of our negligent failure include, but are not limited to, the following:

(1) We did not follow our established procedures in this subpart when investigating, appointing, or monitoring a representative payee;

(2) We did not timely investigate a reported allegation of misuse; or

(3) We did not take the necessary steps to prevent the issuance of payments to the representative payee after it was determined that the payee misused benefits.

(e) Our repayment of misused benefits under these provisions does not alter the representative payee's liability and responsibility as described in paragraph (a) of this section.

(f) Any amounts that the representative payee misuses and does not refund will be treated as an overpayment to that representative payee. See subpart F of this part.

[69 FR 60234, Oct. 7, 2004, as amended at 71 FR 61408, Oct. 18, 2006]