When you first hire a disability attorney or advocate, whether you are filing for SSDI or SSI, you must sign a fee agreement that allows the SSA to...
For Social Security disability lawyers, the fee is limited to 25% of the past-due benefits you are awarded, up to a maximum of $6,000. Note that th...
Once you are approved for benefits, the SSA will calculate the amount of backpay you are owed. For SSDI, your backpay will include retroactive bene...
Read our article on how to find a good disability lawyer (and how to screen a lawyer before you hire one), or go straight to our local disability a...
Again, the maximum the disability attorney or nonattorney advocate can charge is 25% of your backpay for his or her services, up to a maximum of $6,000. For example, if your back-dated benefits are calculated to be $10,000, your representative will be paid $2,500 and you will receive $7,500. However, an experienced representative is likely to be able to get you more in backpay by negotiating your disability onset date with the SSA —s omething you can't do without a hearing (in an "on-the-record" ALJ decision) if you're not represented.
During the course of representation, a disability attorney or nonlawyer advocate usually has to request a claimant's medical, school, work records, and occasionally medical or psychological examinations; these can be expensive. The client must pay these costs separately from the attorney's fee (of 25% of their backpay).
The representative will be paid only out of your past-due benefits, or "backpay." If no back-dated benefits are awarded, the representative will not receive a fee. However, in this situation and a few others, the representative is allowed to submit a fee petition to Social Security to request a higher fee.
It doesn't usually cost you anything to hire a representative; the fee will be paid out of the disability award you eventually receive. Some representatives, however, will ask you to pay a nominal amount for costs (see below) at the beginning of your case.
Sometimes a representative will ask for money in advance to pay for these items. This is permitted so long as the representative holds the money in trust until it is needed. However, attorneys usually front these costs for their clients. Then, once the case has closed, regardless of whether you win or lose, the attorney will send the client a bill requesting reimbursement for any funds fronted on behalf of the client.
Social Security Disability attorneys and advocates work "on contingency," meaning they get paid only if you win your case. Unlike many attorneys, disability lawyers do not charge up-front fees or require a retainer to work on a Social Security disability case. Most disability attorneys and nonlawyer representatives will be paid a fee only ...
These terms mean that they are based on your current needs or resources, and such resources exceed the limits set by the social security office then your SSI benefits can be terminated.
SSI benefits can be critical for many recipients providing low to no cost healthcare at most hospitals in California. Recipients receive low cost healthcare, pharmaceuticals and life saving operations at little to no cost, so it is important for such benefits to remain intact.
Once this is done, the claimant can expect payment within 30-45 days. The attorney representative, on the other hand, waits longer to receive attorney’s fees which currently are 25% of back due...
Back due benefits, except for any fee due attorneys, goes directly to the client. This can be as short as 10 to 14 days; normal is 30 to 60 days. If there are other issues (like workers' compensation offset, or SSDI and SSI offset) then it can take longer than 60 days...
A special needs trust will set the funds aside to cover expenses not addressed by SSI and Medicaid, such as legal services and nursing home care while keeping SSI eligibility.
Instead, it is an entitlement available to any qualified person who is disabled and has paid into the Social Security system for at least ten years regardless of current income or assets.
Individuals with SSDI qualify to receive Medicare benefits after two years of SSDI eligibility. Medicare does not provide the comprehensive coverage of Medicaid and the financial payout is often much larger. SSDI depends on the earnings record of the individual, so although the average monthly payment for 2019 is $1,234, ...
When you are involved in a personal injury accident, the last thing you want to worry about is how the settlement you need to pay your medical bills will affect the income you need to pay for daily life. However, it is a very real concern.
Even a large settlement or a settlement on behalf of your partner will not affect SSDI payments. Likewise, your eligibility for Medicare remains unchanged. However, settlements hold the potential to drastically affect SSI payments.
Settlements will not affect SSDI payments or your eligibility for Medicare. As stated, you earned SSDI benefits throughout your working life as a sort of insurance against disability. When you became eligible for SSDI, you began to receive back Social Security taxes you paid via income taxes. Even a large settlement or a settlement on behalf ...
Typically, recipients are elderly, blind, or severely disabled; children may also receive SSI. SSI is a means-tested program with a set of financial requirements. Most SSI recipients also qualify for Medicaid benefits. Medicaid provides a rather thorough set of healthcare benefits as it is both a state and federal program.
Luckily, the SSI program makes an exception for lumps sums of disability backpay. The rule is actually that you have nine months to spend your retroactive pay. (If you receive more than one lump sum installment, you have nine months to spend the money each time you receive an installment.)
Because Social Security decisions can take so long, you may be owed backpayments of benefits for anywhere from three months ...
Social Security will pay you only three months' of SSI at once in your first payment of backpay. If you are owed more retroactive benefits than that, Social Security will usually pay you in two or three installments, six months apart, unless you can prove you need the money for necessities.
In addition, money put into a Program to Achieve Self-Support (PASS) to help you return to work doesn't count as a resource. And finally, some SSI recipients put money into a trust to maintain SSI and Medicaid eligibility. The trust money would be available for you to spend on living and medical expenses, within limits.
Those who were disabled before the age of 26 can put their backpay into an ABLE account, a special type of account created by the Achieving a Better Life Experience Act, a federal law passed in 2014. Money in an ABLE account doesn't count as assets or resources for the purpose of SSI disability benefits or Medicaid.
The remainder of backpay will be paid in the third installment, regardless of the amount. There are some exceptions to the rule limiting the amount of the first two payments.
In 2021, the maximum federal monthly benefit amount was $794, but your amount may be different if your state pays an SSI supplement. The backpay installments will be made in three payments, at six month intervals. The first two payments can't be more than three times your maximum monthly benefit. The remainder of backpay will be paid in ...
You will receive the backpay, and possibly retroactive benefits (payments from your disability onset date to your application date), as one lump-sum payment if you were approved for Social Security disability (SSDI).
Whether you'll get a lump sum or installment payments depends on whether you were approved for SSDI or SSI.
There are two ways to handle the situation. For a large sum, a special needs trust should be considered. If it’s a smaller sum, then “spending down” the money to below the SSI resource limit— another way of saying “Go spend it!”—may be the right solution.
1) Timing: In order to minimize the loss of SSI and Medicaid, goods and services must be purchased in the same calendar month in which the lump sum is received. See SI 01110.600. Note that the individual does not have a period of a month or 30 days to complete the spend down. If a lump sum is received on the 20th of August for example, the spend down should be completed in 11 days to bring resources below the applicable limit before September 1.
How to Avoid Being Cut Off SSI Benefits When You Get a Sum of Money. Sometimes a supplemental security income (SSI) recipient will become eligible to receive a moderate or large sum of money that could make them ineligible for SSI. This can happen for any number of reasons, but we often see this happening if a person receives an inheritance ...
4) Reporting: The spend down must be reported to Social Security by the 10th day of the month following the month in which the lump sum was received. Here are some guidelines to follow in order to properly prepare for the reporting:
Have the bank provide documentation of the bank balance on the first day of the next month to verify the spend down was successfully completed.
The claimant must be on the title to any real property or vehicle purchased with the lump sum. The claimant must be the loss payee for any auto or homeowners insurance purchased with the lump sum. Make copies of current bank statements from all accounts, as well as a printout on the last day of the month showing the balance as of that day.
Buying a home or paying off a mortgage, if the SSI recipient is on the title or has a lifetime agreement to be a tenant of the home. Additionally, home repairs, maintenance, remodeling or adding accessibility features could all be approved expenses.
The reason PI settlements affect the two SSA programs differently is that each program has very different eligibility requirements to fit different purposes. SSDI is an “earned benefit” program, while SSI is a “needs-based” program for people whose assets and income fall within a certain poverty range.
The reason PI settlements affect the two SSA programs differently is that each program has very different eligibility requirements to fit different purposes. SSDI is an “earned benefit” program, while SSI is a “needs-based” program for people whose assets and income fall within a certain poverty range. This also means each benefit is paid from different federal coffers.
Our disability lawyers understand both sides of these issues and the laws that govern them. We have designed our practice specifically to empower and support disabled individuals and can analyze all legal options for your unique situation. Our representation ensures that your eligibility for benefits remains protected and maximum benefits are preserved throughout the life of your disability claim.
Therefore, any PI settlement would be less than if you were working. The settlement would not include compensation for lost wages and lost future earning capacity. This often results in a significantly lower personal injury settlement or award.
You may quality for SSDI benefits after a personal injury event if you meet Social Security’s definition of “disability” as follows:
Hence, if you are receiving SSDI benefits, a settlement in a personal injury case will in no way affect your SSDI. Disability benefits would continue until you return to work, or SSA finds you are no longer disabled, or you reach retirement age.Likewise, because Medicare benefits are based on work history, and not income or assets, your Medicare benefits should not change.
SSI is funded from a different federal money source than SSDI. These funds are from general tax revenues, like personal income and corporate taxes.