Quote Quoting jms15
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I still haven't gotten a call back from DSS (2 messages left in the last week) so I'm still not clear about the spending of the SS lump sum payments. I called SS again today and the rep said spending it on prepaid rent was fine to use the money for. When I told her that the state DSS said I couldn't, she said something like: Well they can set there own rules. When I said that the SS was Federal and so I didn't think the state had the right to tell me how I could spend the money, she agreed and said that my son wasn't currently receiving SSI so there shouldn't be any issue. Since nothing is in writing and SS seems to back off some whenever I say that the state DSS disagrees, I don't feel very confident about this.

Can anyone help me with this? I really feel that the prepaid rent would help my son out since he's not getting enough monthly SSDI to pay for a rent until he can get some type of housing assistance.

Appreciate any feedback.
Well, one thing that I can tell you is that you are free to spend the assets in whichever manner you feel promotes your son's best interest. There is no restriction on you there.

The only question is whether or not what you spend them on would be countable assets that would reduce his state benefits.

Here is a link to the CT DSS website.

http://www.ct.gov/dss/site/default.asp

Perhaps the information you are looking for will be there.