<human>: My father's been receiving survivor benefits, for my twin sister and me, for ~11 years, as a result of my mothers' death in 2004. He spent it at first on family expenses, but started bringing in enough income eventually to be able to funnel it into a savings account for college tuition funds. Upon our turning 18 recently, the SSA required him to refund the amount he had been saving, labeling it as overpayment. He didn't waiver the repayment, and is under the assumption that we could file for a refund as adults, the benefits being under our names and managed by him as our guardian.

We're not completely dependent on the savings he made with the funds, but they were still an important factor in our college finances. I'm wondering if the benefits are something we do have a right to collect as adults (ie if they were actually under our names), and if so, how we might possibly go about getting any sort of refund?

Could you distill the essence of the text into 1-3 sentences?
<bot>: Can the child of someone who received survivor benefits that were refunded due to overpayment claim them for themselves, as an adult?