Family of missing Ohio man who was legally declared dead 20 years ago forced to repay $47,000 in Social Security benefits they were granted after HE turned up alive



Donald Miller Jr., 62, of Fostoria, Ohio, skipped out on his family in the 1980s

He was fleeing child support payments, his family said

In 1994 he was declared legally dead and his two daughters received $47,000 from his Social Security

He resurfaced around 2005, saying he had been living in Florida and Georgia



However a judge refused to undo his death, citing a three-year limit for overturning a death ruling

But the Social Security Administration believe Miller is alive and is demanding the $47,000 be returned



The government wants to recoup benefits paid to the daughters of a man who was declared legally dead and then turned up alive years later.

Donald Miller Jr. disappeared in the 1980s, and a death ruling in 1994 allowed his family to get Social Security benefits.



When the 62-year-old Miller resurfaced around 2005 - some 25 years after his disappearance - saying he had lived in other states and then returned to Ohio, the government apparently took notice.

Miller has tried unsuccessfully to 'undo' his death.



Then there were three: Robin Miller, (left) pictured here not long after the disappearance of husband Donald Miller Jr. in 1980, says her family should not have to pay back the death benefits they received after he was declared legally dead

Even as he stood in court last year providing evidence of his existence, a Hancock County judge turned down a request to 'bring him back to life', citing a three-year limit for changing a death ruling.



The judge did acknowledge it was problematic.

Now the Social Security Administration know that Miller is alive, it wants his two daughters to return more than $47,000 to cover benefits they received as teenagers, plus interest, his ex-wife, Robin Miller, told The Courier in Findlay.

Both daughters are now adults with their own families.

Robin Miller has not spoken of what happened to the money.

Letters about the requested repayments were sent in April, and the family was stunned, she said.

'If anybody has to pay this back, it should be him because we didn't do anything wrong,' she said.

Donald Miller, of Fostoria, couldn't be reached for comment, and his attorney didn't return calls from the newspaper.

Today: Robin Miller has since remarried - to a man whose surname is also Miller - and is believed to have had another child, a son

A Social Security spokesman, Doug Nguyen in Chicago, said the agency is reviewing Robin Miller's application for a waiver.

Robin Miller said the family didn't defraud the government and had taken steps to find Donald Miller after he vanished, including contacting the FBI and hiring a private investigator.

'We honestly thought he was done, dead, gone and out of our lives,' she said.

Miller remarried after the disappearance of her first husband and is believed to have had another child, a son.