When filing for a Social Security Disability or SSD claim, maybe you’re considering hiring a lawyer to help you through the process. How do social security disability attorneys get paid? What is their fee structure like? These are things that are essential to help you make an informed decision when getting legal help.
No Upfront Payments
Generally, people who file for SSD claims do not have enough money on hand to immediately pay an attorney for their help. This is why SSD lawyers do not charge any upfront fees or retainers before working on an SSD case.
Fee Agreements
So, how do disability attorneys get paid? When you hire an SSD lawyer to support your claim, you will both enter into a contingency fee agreement, which is then submitted for approval to the Social Security Administration.
The agreement basically states that the attorney will be paid a certain amount by the SSA administration once you have been approved to receive Social Security Disability Benefits.
The Social Security Administration goes over the contract and ensures that your fee agreement meets the guidelines that have been set and that your attorney only receives up to the amount that they are entitled to receive before sending over any money.
Fee agreements are required by the SSA Administration to be contingency-based. As for how much disability lawyers charge, you can agree on any fee with your attorney as long as it doesn’t go over the limit set by the SSA Administration.
The cap is 25% of the benefits you are owed at the time of approval or $6,000, whichever is lesser. No matter the amount of back payments you are entitled to receive, your lawyer legally cannot charge more than $6,000.
There are cases when a Social Security Disability attorney can request to go over the limit as long as they are able to justify their reasons for the request to have the SSA Administration approves it. But this is an incredibly rare occurrence, and most lawyers strictly adhere to the contingency agreements set by the administration.
Additionally, they are only permitted to file a fee petition if their disability case requires multiple hearings.
If the claimant of the SSD benefits is a child, then their parent or guardian is required to sign the agreement on behalf of them. If the claimant is an adult who is required to be accompanied by a guardian, then the guardian signs on their behalf.
Legal Costs and Expenses
In a case, there are two kinds of expected expenses: the amount the attorney will charge for their time and the different expenses the attorney incurs while working on your case. A typical Social Security case would require the attorney to go to hospitals, doctor’s offices, schools, etc. in order to get any records that would prove their client’s disability.
Some facilities might hand out those files for free but still, there are some that would charge a fee to copy your file. Copying fees, as well as mailing costs, are the expenses that an attorney usually expects to pay when working on a case. Usually, these costs do not amount to more than $200.
Disability lawyers might not be able to ask you to pay any upfront fees for their time, but they are within their rights to charge you upfront for a reasonable fee that would cover any expected expenses in a case.
Costs paid in advance should be placed in a special account called the ‘trust account.’ This is where the lawyer withdraws any money they might need for the case and inform you of any related transaction they make. If there is any money left over after the case, then they are returned to you.
Disability Back Payments
How much do disability attorneys charge? It usually depends on the amount of back pay benefits you can claim. When your application for Social Security Disability benefits gets denied, it usually takes about a year or more before your application is reconsidered and you get an appeal hearing.
In that time, your benefit payments will continue to accrue starting from the onset date of your disability and any applicable waiting periods you had to go through.
The amount of payment you get once your application has been approved is dependent on a few factors including:
- Onset date of disability
- Date you filed for disability
- If you are a recipient of Social Security Disability Insurance or Supplemental Security Income
The law only allows your lawyer to be charged a set percentage of your back payments as a fee for handling your case.
Although it’s possible to go through the Social Security Disability process by yourself, you gain a much better chance of success in claiming the benefits you deserve when you have an experienced SSD attorney by your side.
We also have another article that may interest you, about lawyers’ fees in personal injury cases. In addition to that, we have been investigating as well medical malpractices and negligence that may lead to injury or illness.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
How much does a social security disability lawyer cost?
You can agree on any amount with your attorney provided it doesn’t go over the maximum set by the Social Security Administration. So, the total amount you can pay to a social security disability lawyer is entirely dependent on how much back payments you receive.
How does the pay scale for a disability lawyer work?
The pay scale for a disability lawyer is limited to only 25% of the accrued disability benefits of the client or $6,000, whichever is lower of the two. If the back payments of the client exceed $6,000, then the legal maximum will hold.
For example, if your back pay totals $15,000 then the Social Security Administration will withhold $3,750 and give it to your lawyer while the remaining balance is given to you. On the other hand, if your back payments total $25,000, then the maximum fee of $6,000 is withheld since 25% of the amount would end up exceeding it.
