A long road ahead for me. (SSI) Withholding information

Joshua H.

New Member
Jurisdiction
New Mexico
Hello, I am wondering if someone here can help me with a situation I put myself in. I am mentally disabled and have been on SSI disability since 1999.

Around 2009, me and my girlfriend at the time opened a joint account at Neusenda. I am painfully frugal and saved money well. I don't smoke drink or buy new products, part of the reason we broke up. We both went to UNM and got various scholarships and with the financial aid we both both received, our bank account was always above 3 thousand and at the end of our relationship 10k that we split in 2014. Very frugal because my biggest fear is ending up institutionalization.

In 2015, my cat got ran over and it cost me 3 thousand dollars and I only had 500 dollars to my name. There was no way I could let her go, she is my life. I borrowed over 2k from a good friend of mine. This is when I went into panic saving mode. Who knows when something might happen?

The problem is I didn't take the 2 thousand dollar maximum amount you can have seriously and never reported it to them =(. And, for the past two years or so have been about 3 to 4 thousand. 2 years ago I was in an automobile accident and immobilized for a while, hence nothing to spend money on and I no longer drive or own a car.

In August I got a settlement for 12k making my account balance 14k for several months.


I am still most worried about the welfare of my cats if anything were to happen to me. I have no prior convictions of anything… And have worked at non profits when I can and am always try to be good and help others.

Should I go to a layer before confessing everything? I no longer want to live with this.... How much jailtime will I get? =(

Josh
 
You might not get any jail time. You might have to repay some benefits if SSA finds out you exceeded the asset limits. But I would suggest you have an initial consultation with a lawyer who handles SSA repayment claims for advice before you go to SSA and say something you might regret. Don't panic until you hear what the lawyer tells you. It may not be nearly as bad as you fear. No way to know until you have someone look at it.
 
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