H was the sole heir of her brother D, who passed away in 1964. At the time of his passing, D was owed a social security underpayment of $2,307.

The question was whether or not social security could pay the underpayment to H. This in turn depended upon whether or not H could give social security “good acquittance” as D’s legal representative.

As the sole distributee of D’s estate, H had the right to gather all of D’s property. She could demand, sue for, and recover her share (100%) of D’s property. As such, she could give good acquittance and was D’s legal representative under the meaning of the social security act.

See Social Security Ruling (SSR) 68-72.