In short, like many areas of the law, it depends. You are responsible for repaying these overpayments. However, if you file bankruptcy and include that debt on the bankruptcy and the government does not object to the discharge of the debt then it may be wiped out. As with any other unsecured creditor they will of course have a set amount of time to object to the discharge, but after that time is up then that debt will go away just like the others. Of course, if the bankruptcy Trustee looks deeper into your case and finds you received these overpayments fraudulently, then there is a possibility those overpayments will not be discharged.

Overpayment can happen because of something like you were out of work and receiving disability payments from the Social Security Administration (SSA) and go back to work sooner than expected and try and inform the SSA but they do not respond and keep paying you. Technically when they discover this, they are supposed to collect back from you the amount you were overpaid. But if you were to file bankruptcy and they did not object to the discharge, then they cannot collect that money from you.