Thank you. Married man (our son) is on permanent disability. He has 4 children of his own with wife. His 4 children receive an ssi check from his disability from Social Security. The two children with BF are not receiving checks. He made sure of that.
We are having a hard time even finding a lawyer that will help him on sliding scale. So that was why I asked about the Denial of Paternity form. I thought there may have been way around all this without a lot of costs. I had hoped that making sure he was not responsible legally and then getting a divorce would be less costly if he could even find a sliding scale lawyer. And also revealing 'pressure/fear' should wife decides she need more State Aid, child support or anything like that.
Legal Aid will not help, he has tried. I will continue calling lawyers.
Oh my goodness, now its very clear.
If you son is the putative father and he's on SSI, they can't touch a penny of that for child support.
The government considers that to be NEED BASED financial assistance, and its bullet proof.
Why, even the IRS couldn't get a penny of that money.
So, tell your son to relax, mom.
I do understand life can place us in very difficult positions.
I'm sure he's stressing and struggling, so tell him not to worry.
His SSI will forever remain safe, unless they change the laws.
I don't expect that to happen anytime soon.
If a parent's only income is SSI, that parent cannot be forced to pay child support. Some courts may still enter a child support order, but will not enforce that order. The Child Support Guidelines specifically say that SSI is not counted as income on the child support worksheet. By definition, someone who is getting SSI is unable to work because to be eligible for SSI you must be unable to work.
If a parent receives SSI, he or she should tell the court that is his or her only income.
Therefore, she or he is not able to pay child support.
The parent should get a statement from the Social Security Administration to prove that she or he receives SSI.
Such a person should give the statement to the court, and the parent seeking child support.
If the parent has previously been ordered to pay child support, subsequently began receiving SSI, he or she can ask the court to modify any child support order.
Bottom line, SSI recipients are entirely bullet proof from judgments, with one exception.
Only the Social Security Agency can recoup overpayments by withholding small amounts of money from SSI recipients to recoup the overpayment.
Other than that exception, SSI is untouchable.
Here's the IRS explanation, (as well as other government agencies and legal opinions from lawyers) essentially telling you why his SSI can't be attached or levied against, even for child support.
http://kyjustice.org/node/744
http://www.disabilitysecrets.com/can-disability-benefits-be-taken-for-child-support.html
http://www.illinoislegalaid.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.dsp_content&contentID=2501
http://cssd.dc.gov/page/impact-ssi-and-ssdi-child-support
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/css/resource/garnishment-of-supplemental-security-income-benefits