Soon-to-be Ex Husband is committing SSI Fraud

Hello,

My cousin, we'll call her D, is getting into a messy divorce with her husband of 16 years, R. D has a serious question and needs some help finding the answer....not necessarily legal advice, but just an answer to the legal question.

Her soon-to-be ex-husband, R, was in a car accident shortly before they met and has to wear a leg brace for the rest of his life. He draws SSI disability as his only form of income. D noticed throughout their marriage that R could, however, work: he showed extreme physical capability in building things for and around the house and taking their two children to do things....primarily, their oldest is in boy scouts, and R does a lot for him and his troop. D managed to get video evidence of R doing these things, which would clearly make him ineligible for SSI disability.

That being said, D never went to the authorities with all this because 1) she truly loved R and 2) R was somewhat abusive near the end of their relationship and it would have escalated the situation.

D's question here is, when she goes to the authorities with these tapes and other evidence, can she get in trouble as well for the money he accepted when they were married? Don't get me wrong, D does plan on going to the authorities with this once their divorce is finalized....but she's simply curious as to whether the government will come down on her for being an accessory or something.

Thank you for your consideration and time in this matter.

Overall I do not admire what she is doing because she clearly accepted this and now is only taking actio because now they are getting divorced. So is she trying to use this as a custody ploy? She does realize that if he is on SS disability and she gets custody she will automatically get a benefit for the kids. If his benefits do get cut off and he does not work, does she think she will get any money from him? I am all for turning in fraud if it exists but her motives are clearly questionable since she did nothing about it until now.

Sort of agree with above--she may be hurting her own pocketbook issues  to turn him in.

TalonSky:

D noticed throughout their marriage that R could, however, work: he showed extreme physical capability in building things for and around the house and taking their two children to do things....primarily, their oldest is in boy scouts, and R does a lot for him and his troop. D managed to get video evidence of R doing these things, which would clearly make him ineligible for SSI disability.

I am always amused by people who write that something is "clearly" something when they "clearly" don't have a clue as to whether it is or it isn't.

And in this case it isn't.

Being able to perform all those physical activities, even frequently and strenuously, does not necessarily make him ineligible for SSI disability benefits.

The criteria for disability benefits (quoted from the SSA website) are:

"Disability" under Social Security is based on your inability to work. We consider you disabled under Social Security rules if:

• You cannot do work that you did before;
• We decide that you cannot adjust to other work because of your medical condition(s); and
• Your disability has lasted or is expected to last for at least one year or to result in death."

So, he can build stuff around the house? Well, with a leg brace he's not likely to be able work construction for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week.

And, given the stringent eligibility requirements, I'm guessing that the SSA might have already ruled out the possibility of him performing other kind of work.

She's certainly free to report him if she wants some kind of revenge. I have no idea if there would be any backlash against her.

Here's the fraud page:

http://www.ssa.gov/oig...

No, she wanted to report him during her marriage but was afraid of the repercussions, both legal and domestic. She's not worried about the money and it's not a custody ploy, it's simply her finally coming to terms with her own moral conscious and saying, "This isn't right and the SSI offices should know about it."

I have to agree with Adjuster Jack here.  I have a back injury and generally try to avoid lifting much over 40 pounds.  However, "in a pinch", I can do it.  I just couldn't do it on a regular basis, which is often what a job would require.  Even, if you had two minutes of video showing me lifting a 50 pound box, you would not have evidence that I was defrauding the SSDI program, assuming I was collecting those benefits.

I doubt that much will come of her report to the authrities.  First off, the fact that the report of the alleged fraud  is coming from "an ex", will likely generate a "consider the source" reaction on the part of the person reviewing the report. Secondly, the Government really has limited investigative resources.   Absent further information, an investigator has to make a decision about which of the many possible fraud reports deserve further  investigation.&a... There simply is not the manpower to investigate every single report.  An ex claiming that the former partner can do x,y and z does not really give the investigator much in the way of eveidence.  A report that a SSDI beneficiary is working under the table for ABC company and that his work hours are from 8am to 5 pm, M-F is much easier to verify or refute.  Moreover, if the investigator can verify the report, then he or she has a potent... stronger case for the U.S. Attorney's office.

TalonSky:

it's simply her finally coming to terms with her own moral conscious and saying, "This isn't right and the SSI offices should know about it."

Oh come now.

What she is really doing is looking to stick it to her ex, just like every divorced person dreams of doing.

My ex moved to Florida years ago. Can't tell you how many times I asked the hurricane gods to drop a house on her.

Tell her to mention it to her divorce attorney and let he/she decide if it's something worth pursuing.  That's why they get paid the big bucks.

I was married to a man who did triple flips off a diving board while collecting permanent and total disability due to a back injury (funny how he never let me go to the pool to watch him, but I heard about it by accident.)  I divorced him quickly....and not just for his lying to me. 

My neighbor collects disability for a mental condition as a married woman, "legally separated" while her and her HUSBAND live together full time.  He's working.  She told me she would get less SSI if Social Security knew they were really married, so they both rather lie and fraud the system.

Lot of frauds out there....and some, not so much.

Good luck to her.