Q: How difficult or easy is it typically to get a Social Security overpayment erased via bankruptcy? I live in Cleveland,OH
My husband is being held responsible for a ridiculously high overpayment from Social Security that can't possibly be paid by us. He was getting disability benefits for years due to his family inaccurately labeling him as disabled and then using his benefits for their own personal needs. I have already told social security about this and filed an official request for an investigation. Needless to say, nothing has been done yet and Social Security does not even seem to be organized enough to stay on top of paperwork. Once they discovered they were paying him too much, they cut off his benefits but then BACKDATED all the documentation to 1995 to make it look like all of this happened back then! Dealing with them has been a nightmare and they don't even seem to care enough to go after his previous payees that took advantage of his money. Anyways, the overpayment is so high (about 96,000) that there is no way it would be paid in our lifetime, forcing us to consider bankruptcy for him.
A: Bankruptcy, while it may wipe out some other debts making this one easier to pay, isn't going to wipe this out. He needs a lawyer to help him demonstrate to SS that he didn't cause the overpayment or benefit from it so that they go after the right people and also so that he avoids potential criminal charges.
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