Beneficiary Recontact Report

SSA investigates recipients of disability payments to determine their continuing eligibility for payments. Research indicates recipients may fail to report circumstances that affect their eligibility. Two such cases are: (1) When parents receiving disability benefits for their child marry; and (2) the removal of an entitled child from parents’ care. SSA uses Form SSA-1588-SM to ask mothers or fathers about both their marital status, and children currently under their care, to detect overpayments and to avoid continuing payment to those no longer entitled. Form SSA-1588-SM is a pre-filled form; SSA completes certain fields electronically before we send it to the recipient. SSA sends Form SSA-1588-SM to widowers, once a year for the first three years after entitlement, then six years after entitlement, and then nine years after entitlements. SSA employees then evaluate the information listed on the form for program compliance. Respondents are recipients of mothers’ or fathers’ Social Security benefits. We are submitting this non-substantive change request to remove the signature requirement, and are replacing the Penalty of Perjury Statemenwith with a Penalty of Perjury Warning Statement.

The latest form for Beneficiary Recontact Report expires 2027-04-30 and is listed under ICR 202410-0960-018.