My daughter is developmentally disabled and receives SSI benefits and I am the Representative Payee for her benefits. A number of years ago (15 or more) I opened a checking and savings account at our local Credit Union with me as the account holder and her listed as the beneficiary.
I write her regular small checks for her personal expenses. When she goes to the local Credit Union branch to cash these checks she gets refused about half of the time. However when she goes to a different branch of the Credit Union she is never refused.
The bank supervisor gave me two reasons why we are having problems at the local branch of the Credit Union. One is that because my daughter is listed as beneficiary she cannot transact on the account and the other is that my daughter has told them that it is "her" account. The bank supervisor also told me that they should cash the checks my daughter presents if they are made out to her and signed by me (which they are). Can you give me a legal reason why the Credit Union would be liable if they cash these checks for my daughter?
If the checks you are writing to your daughter are drawn on the checking account you first described (with her listed as beneficiary), there is no reason the credit union should be at risk if it cashes the checks for her. They are entitled to require reasonable ID (although it's apparent they know who she is), but their explanation that "she cannot transact business on the account" rings hollow, since the checks she is cashing are drawn by you, not by her.
Regardless of how your daughter describes the account, the credit union should understand its true nature. It is your account, containing money you are trusted to use for her benefit.
We think that you are experiencing problems only because the local branch doesn't understand thoroughly the account relationship and who is authorized to do what with the account. If you continue to experience problems, ask your daughter to go to the branch that seems to have no problem with the transactions. If that's not always practical, you might ask the manager of that branch to contact the local branch to explain how the account is supposed to work.
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If the checks you are writing to your daughter are drawn on the checking account you first described (with her listed as beneficiary), there is no reason the credit union should be at risk if it cashes the checks for her. They are entitled to require reasonable ID (although it's apparent they know who she is), but their explanation that "she cannot transact business on the 