Discharged June 2016.
Yesterday I received a letter from Social Security. Read carefully before commenting.
My ex wife was receiving dissability.
4/2014 Divorce Judge ordered me to go to SS and have the kids portion directed towards me since I now had sole custody and she was undergoing treatment for drugs and alcohol.
A month or so later I started to receive the kids portion of disability.
- The Judge's final divorce judgement states that the kids portion of the dissability payment is sufficient for child support (again I have sole custody).
- She pays nothing else in child support
Yesterday I received a letter from Social Security stating that there was an overpayment of $18,000 made to the kids since she was working.
I am innocent we have been separated for 7 years divorced for over 1. I have no idea if she works/how much she works/ how much she earns/ if she told social security....
I can file an appeal that the overpayment was in no way my fault but I also need to follow through with financial statements. Given the recent CH7 financials should show I don't have ability to repay but I shouldn't have to do tat.
Enough background here comes the questions
Social Security Overpayments Can Be Discharged in Bankruptcy
Just because you owe a debt to the federal government does not mean that you can’t discharge it in bankruptcy. Certain debts owed to the government, such as recent unpaid taxes or criminal fines, are nondischargeable in bankruptcy. But a Social Security overpayment is not one of them.
In bankruptcy, Social Security overpayments are treated as unsecured debts similar to credit card debt and medical bills. So if you are unable to pay back your Social Security overpayment, filing for bankruptcy relief can allow you to discharge your obligation to the SSA. However, keep in mind that the SSA has the right to object to your discharge if it believes you were committing fraud by accepting the additional payments.
Reading the above tells me that I could have included this in CH7 had I known.
Of the 18K in overpayments 16K was before discharge.
is it too late to get this included in the bankruptcy that was discharged 6/2016?
That is the only question not about teh appeal or overpayment....
I should win the appeal but with the government one never knows so if the simplest answer is I can include 16/18K in the bankruptcy then I only risk 2K in my challenge with SS.
