As a representative payee for a recently deceased family member, am I responsible for paying back an SSI over payment with my own funds?

Just a point here to explain that SS and SSI are different and pay differently. SSI pays on the first of the month for that month...June 1 payment is for June. SS pays the way JoAnn29 explained it. Many people confuse the two programs because they are both administered by the Social Security Administration.

Like a job SS pays after you earn the money. So a check received in May is April's payment. If a person dies in May they are entitled to the check received in May. If a check is received in June, that needs to go back to SS because its May's payment and the person died in May and not entitled to it.

When did your person pass?

If you are anywhere near a Social Security Regional Office, go there instead of trying to negotiate on the phone.

You May experience “wait time” at the office but you will be speaking to a knowledgeable human who will listen to you and accept the fact that you are not trying to cheat.

I tried both phone contact and then in person office contact. My two office experiences were excellent, the phone co tact, a waste of my time.

The family member's estate stands to pay any bills owing from the family members bills and for care rendered. The estate will be billed. You will pay out of the estate if you are the executor. When the funds no longer exist you will write on all bills "Deceased; no estate". You are no longer a representative payee at the death of an elder. Just as you are no longer the POA if you were one. Now the executor of the estate takes over.

They'll likely pull it back out of whatever account it went into. That's what they did when they paid my folks' monthly SS payment and my dad died. It was in the account for about three days, and whoosh -- word reached them Dad had died, and that payment came right back out of the account and was replaced with the survivor's benefit for my mother.