If you handled your own disability claim, you can ask people you trust for referrals to attorneys they have used and liked. You can also locate an attorney by calling different disability attorneys in your community and asking if they take overpayment cases. Once you have a few names, you can meet with attorneys to see whose approach you like best.
Even if that lawyer will not represent you, he or she may give you a good referral to a legal aid office or another attorney who would represent you. If you handled your own disability claim, you can ask people you trust for referrals to attorneys they have used and liked.
Attorneys in Social Security overpayment cases are conscious that their clients are usually lower-income individuals due to their disability, and they know that it might be hard for the client to pay the attorney's bill.
There are two ways for Social Security attorneys to get paid: fee agreements and fee petitions. Fee petitions are used for overpayment cases. Usually, a disability attorney will enter into a fee agreement with you to take 25% of your disability backpay or $6,000, whichever is less.
Enrolling in ARSContact your local hearing office and request an invitation to enroll.Receive in the mail an invitation notice and a specially marked Form SSA-1699, Registration for Appointed Representative Services and Direct Payment.Complete and sign the SSA-1699, then fax it to 1-877-268-3827 for processing.More items...
Unfortunately, your odds are even lower for getting your benefits approved on the first appeal—about 12%. If you move on to the next level of appeal, which involves a hearing before an administrative law judge (ALJ), your chances for approval increase significantly—more than 55%.
Another means of expediting the scheduling of a disability appeal hearing is to request a congressional inquiry. To facilitate an inquiry, you must contact the office of your local senator or congressperson and request that they intervene with the ODAR on your behalf.
Local representation in a Texas social security disability case by a Texas licensed lawyer is not required, but it still matters.
Can an ALJ Decision Be Overturned? The only way to overturn a decision made by an ALJ is to file an appeal with the Appeals Council.
A reconsideration appeal can usually be decided in as little as four weeks or as long as twelve weeks; whereas an application for disability can take as long as six months (usually, if it takes this long it is due to difficulties in procuring medical records from various doctors and other medical providers).
1. Arthritis. Arthritis and other musculoskeletal disabilities are the most commonly approved conditions for disability benefits. If you are unable to walk due to arthritis, or unable to perform dexterous movements like typing or writing, you will qualify.
Tips to Improve Your Chances of Getting Disability BenefitsFile Your Claim as Soon as Possible. ... Make an Appeal within 60 Days. ... Provide Full Details of Medical Treatment. ... Provide Proof of Recent Treatment. ... Report your Symptoms Accurately. ... Provide Medical Evidence. ... Provide Details of your Work History.More items...•
What Conditions Automatically Qualify You for Disability?Musculoskeletal disorders (e.g., bone, joint injuries, skeletal spine injuries)Special senses and speech (e.g., visual disorders, blindness)Respiratory disorders (e.g., chronic bronchitis, emphysema, asthma)More items...
This process often takes anywhere from two to six months. Those denied a second time have the right to appeal and request a hearing in front of an administrative law judge. Depending on where you're located, receiving a hearing date could take anywhere from several months to a year.
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) may also be available for disabled low-income Texas residents. SSI is an income-based program that assists disabled adults and children with cash payments. Both SSDI and SSI can help recipients in Texas pay for health care expenses, personal care expenses, and daily living expenses.
The Blue Book, also referred to as the Listing of Impairments, covers both physical and mental conditions that are considered disabling. If you suffer from a condition that meets the requirements for a Blue Book listing, you will be considered disabled regardless of your education or work history.
If you have a Social Security Disability claim or appeal pending in Texas, you should consider obtaining the services of a disability representative. This individual may be a disability lawyer or a non-attorney disability representative. The Social Security Disability and SSI system is an administrative-legal system and for this reason a non-attorney may represent a claim. In practical terms, there is no difference between the two and many non-attorney representatives are former disability examiners and SSA field office claims representatives.
The fee for representation in Texas is 21% of your back payment of disability benefits up to a maximum amount of $6000.00. In other words, the fee can never exceed $6000 under any circumstances. However, it can also never exceed 1/4 of your back pay.
If you do not agree with any of the information provided or the amount of money requested, you have twenty days to contact Social Security to dispute the petition. Social Security will consider everything and tell you and your representative in writing the amount they are authorizing as a fee in your case.
In most cases, you will not have to worry about paying the representative. Social Security will withhold the fee from your back payment of benefits prior to sending you your back payment. You must pay any agreed upon incidental expenses out of your back payment.
Social Security does not allow representatives in Texas to charge retainers or hourly fees that must be paid prior to their taking your case. To charge you a fee, your attorney or representative must file a fee agreement or fee petition with Social Security. The fee agreement is signed by both you and your representative and it is a legally binding agreement. The fee agreement lists the normal fee expectation along with any expenses you are expected to pay.
Texas disability hearing - If the reconsideration appeal is turned down, and this is usually what happens, then the claimant files the second appeal for a Social Security hearing, known as a "request for hearing before an Administrative law judge".
In all likelihood, however, the individual handling the disability case, who can be a disability attorney or a non-attorney claimant's representative (if a non-attorney is involved, they may be a former SSA field office representative or even a former disability examiner), will know when the appropriate time is to begin acquiring medical record updates to send to the administrative law judge.
To request a hearing, simply contact the same Social Security office where the intial claim and reconsideration appeal were filed and ask that the appropriate appeal forms are sent out. As with the reconsideration, the hearing request appeal can be done online or paper forms can be submitted by the claimant. If the claimant has a disability lawyer or non-attorney claimant's representative, that person should file the appeal.
The reconsideration appeal must be filed (meaning received at a Social Security office) within 60 days of the date of the disability application's denial. If it is not received in a timely manner, a claimant will be forced to start over with a new application which will result in a considerable loss of valuable case-processing time.
The reconsideration decision will be made the same way as the disability application, meaning that if the medical evidence alone does not warrant an approval based on a disability listing, then both the medical evidence and work history information will be used to decide whether or not a person has the ability to return to substantial and gainful paid employment.
How long will a Texas disability hearing take? As in other states, the hearing can occur in as little as 10 minutes and may last a half hour.
Because the process is the same, reconsideration appeals are usually denied. Approximately speaking, only about one out of ever six appeals at this level are won. This translates to 16 percent approved, 84 percent denied.
Most people don’t realize that after they have been denied, they have several more chances to get approved at hearings. This is where having a Social Security Disability lawyer greatly improves your chances of winning. But to get there you first have to appeal and do so in a timely manner. Since we do this for you, we call this EZ Appeal!
To increase your chances of a successful appeal, you need a Social Security Disability Attorney with experience at your side. Social Security can and does call its own medical and vocational expert witnesses in your case, and it is highly like that the Judge will cross examine you. You don’t have tp do this alone! Hire an experienced lawyer to apply and appeal your case if denied.
You can file a Request for Reconsideration; • If reconsideration is denied, you Request a Hearing; • If the hearing decision is unfavorable, appeal to the Appeals Council; • If the Appeals Council decision is unfavorable, appeal to District Court.
Some of our cases have to be appealed to federal district court. We are one of the few Social Security Disability lawyers in Texas that both can and will appeal denied cases to federal district court where the situation requires.
You can also locate an attorney by calling different disability attorneys in your community and asking if they take overpayment cases. Once you have a few names, you can meet with attorneys to see whose approach you like best.
Usually, a disability attorney will enter into a fee agreement with you to take 25% of your disability backpay or $6,000 , whichever is less. Then, when the case is over, if you have won, Social Security forwards the attorney's fee to your attorney.
When attorneys do take overpayment cases, they will usually have you sign a fee petition agreeing to pay an hourly fee for the time that they spend working on your case. Then, when the case is over, the lawyer has to petition Social Security to approve the fee. Social Security will consider a number of factors when deciding whether a particular fee is fair, including the outcome of the case and the level of skill that was required to handle the case. Social Security can approve the attorney's fee petition request, disapprove it, or modify the fee to a lower amount.
If he spends less than 15 hours, he will return money from your retainer to you at the end of the case. Attorneys in Social Security overpayment cases are conscious that their clients are usually lower-income individuals due to their disability, and they know that it might be hard for the client to pay the attorney's bill. ...
That is, if you lose your case, you will owe your attorney $3,000 in fees (if Social Security approves the request), and you will still owe the overpayment. On the other hand, if Social Security says you owe a $160,000 overpayment, and your attorney will charge you a $3,000 retainer to begin working on it, then you might decide ...
Legal Aid attorneys work for non-profit law firms whose goal is to provide free legal advice and representation to low-income individuals in civil cases. (A civil case is any kind of case that does not involve a crime. Disability cases are civil cases.) Legal Aid attorneys may be more likely to take overpayment cases than some disability lawyers, ...
Social Security will consider a number of factors when deciding whether a particular fee is fair, including the outcome of the case and the level of skill that was required to handle the case. Social Security can approve the attorney's fee petition request, disapprove it, or modify the fee to a lower amount. Getting Social Security ...
The process that you must follow to appeal a denied SSD benefits claim is broken into different stages. The first two stages are:
The law firm of Kraft & Associates has worked with disabled individuals and their loved ones since 1971. Our decades worth of experience has given us a clear understanding of how important disability benefits are to our clients.
The SSD appeals attorneys at Kraft & Associates have served the disabled in Dallas for more than 45 years. Our experience can make a difference in your appeal. If your claim for benefits was denied, please don’t hesitate to call or contact us online to schedule a free consultation with a member of our dedicated legal team.
In most cases, from the time a Complaint is filed until the time briefs are submitted is about six months. Generally, that would be the minimum length of time for a District Court case.
Instead, the Court is looking to see if the ALJ’s decision is supported by substantial evidence or if there was an error of law. This can be a confusing concept, but the District Court allows for some level of discretion amongst the ALJs. It is possible for you to win with one judge and lose with another. Unless the judge’s decision is not supported by substantial evidence or contains an error of law, the District Court will not rule in your favor.
If the Social Security Appeals Council denied your Request for Review, the next step in the appeals process is filing a civil action in Federal District Court. A Social Security Federal District Court lawyer is essential at this stage. The process of appealing a disability case to the Federal District Court is incredibly difficult and complex. Most lawyers do not even file appeals in the Federal District Court. It’s extremely important that if you proceed to this level of appeal, you do so with the help of an experienced Social Security Federal District Court lawyer.
If you receive an unfavorable decision from the Appeals Council or a denial of Request for Review, you have sixty (60) days to file a Complaint in Federal District Court. Every District has its own procedures. There is no uniform procedure and there is no uniform Complaint.
This is their opportunity to explain why the Social Security Administration made the decision on your case and why you should not get benefits or a new hearing.
The first step in the Social Security Federal District Court process is the filing of a Complaint. The Complaint must be filed in the District Court in which you live at the time you are filing the Complaint. In other words, you do not file the Complaint in the District Court where you lived at the time of the hearing nor do you file in ...
After the Complaint has been served, the Social Security Administration has sixty (60) days to file an Answer. In most Districts, the Social Security Administration will also file a complete copy of the “administrative record”. The “administrative record” is a complete copy of everything that was in your Social Security file.