Protecting Your Inheritance While Receiving Social Security Benefits

Q. I'm the beneficial of a retiremant and insurance policy. I receive Social Security. I may loose my Social Security benifits if I receive the funds.

I also owe a student loan.

How can I protect my inheirtance.

I'm scared and don't have a clue what to do.

A. The main issue is whether the person of whom you are the beneficiary has already died. If not, then you should create a beneficiary trust (or have a special needs trust). The money then goes into that trust and can be used to pay for certain items for you without causing you to lose SSI.

If the person has already passed away then it becomes much more difficult. I think your options are pretty limited. The money may be claimed by the government to pay back what they have paid you all these years, or at the least, could cause them to deny benefits moving forward.

This is a terrible situation and one in which there should have been some advanced planning. Unfortunately, many people fail to take the simple actions that would prevent an inheritance from being lost.

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