We have a lady who lost her husband and her son in-law who is her POA came in and said he had to redo the signature card so the account name was his name first and then "For (her name)". His social security number is the main one on the signature card. He was told by the Social Security office to set up the account in this manner. I don't understand what the purpose of this is. Has anyone had this happen to them?

I don't think I have ever heard of that. If the account is for the benefit of her, the account title should read....Son-in-law FBO (her name). And the primary SS# should be hers. The way he is trying to set this account up doesn't sound right. Why would he use his ss#? If the money is coming from SS for either her husband's death or herself the tax reporting would be on the son-in-law. I don't think that makes sense.

The son-in-law may have gotten some bad advice or may have misinterpreted advice he's received. He could also be trying to hijack the account.

As attorney-in-fact for his mother-in-law, he's not ordinarily in the position to make himself an owner of the account.

If SSA needs him to become a representative payee for his mother-in-law, they will want a separate account established, listing the lady as the owner, with her SSN on the account, and the SIL listed as Representative Payee.

Resist his attempt to make himself the account owner. Try to talk with the widow to find out if she has any idea of what's going on. Get you bank's counsel involved, if necessary.

I suspect she has too much money in her name for some type of government benefit and the family is trying to retitle accounts so she can qualify. Doesn't usually work because the government will do a look back over several years.

Families sometimes lose sight of the importance of "who owns the money" and blame it on the bank when the trusted new "owner" takes Mom's money and runs.