Confused about Advanced Designation of Representative Payee form - what are my responsibilities?

No need to worry! The Advanced Designation form only names you as the person your husband WANTS to be his representative payee IF the SSA determines he needs one in the future. You have zero responsibilities right now. It's basically just your husband telling SSA 'if I become unable to manage my benefits someday, here's who I want to help me.' The SSA would contact you directly and go through an application process before you'd have any actual duties.

my cousins wife got made his rep payee last yr when he had that stroke and she said its alot of paperwork every year you gotta account for every penny he spends. but thats only after ssa appoints you. before that its just a name on paper

To expand on what others have said, the Advanced Designation was created as part of the Strengthening Protections for Social Security Beneficiaries Act of 2018. It's actually very forward-thinking of your husband to complete this form, as most people don't plan ahead for this possibility. Currently, you have zero responsibilities or obligations. Your husband is still his own payee until/unless: 1. A medical provider certifies he cannot manage his benefits, OR 2. SSA determines through their evaluation process he needs assistance. Only then would SSA contact you to initiate the process of becoming his actual representative payee. At that point, you would need to complete Form SSA-11 and potentially interview with SSA staff. If appointed as his representative payee in the future, then you would have reporting requirements, including completing an annual Representative Payee Report (Form SSA-623).

My sister put me on that form and NOTHING happened for 3 years until she had that bad accident. SSA never even contacted me about it until after her doctor said she couldn't handle her money anymore. You're just on a list somewhere in their system.

THEY WILL MAKE YOU JUMP THROUGH HOOPS if your husband ever needs a payee!!! My mom had me on that form and when she needed help SSA still made me fill out a million forms and do an interview and wait MONTHS before they would approve me!!! That form is just the first tiny step. They don't make anything easy!!!

I went through getting my dad's SS after his stroke and the whole system is a mess. I had to wait 3 hours at the office and they kept disconnecting me when I called. I found this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me through to an actual SSA agent in about 10 minutes instead of waiting on hold forever. They have a video that shows how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU. Made dealing with all the representative payee paperwork so much easier when I could actually talk to someone.

Thanks to everyone who's replied! I feel so much better knowing I don't have any immediate responsibilities. I was stressing about this for days thinking I might be neglecting some important duty. Sounds like this is just my husband planning ahead (which is very like him). I appreciate all the information and personal experiences shared here.