Social Security Disability
Representation on Your Social Security Disability Claim
Most problems with representation on a disability claim come down to one of four situations. You want to change representatives, your representative withdrew, a former representative will not release the fee, or you are not certain who is on your claim at all. Each one has a different answer, and none of them ends the claim.
Social Security treats representation as an administrative matter. You can appoint a representative, remove one, or replace one at any stage, and the agency does not ask why. What it does require is paperwork, filed with the office holding your claim. The single most common mistake is assuming a phone call handles it. It does not.
This page is a summary of the four situations and what each one requires. Each links to a longer article with the specific forms, deadlines and mechanics.
You Want to Change Representatives
You can do this at any point, for any reason. Social Security needs three documents: your written revocation of the prior appointment, the prior representative’s withdrawal, and the prior representative’s fee waiver. The waiver is the one almost nobody knows to ask for, and leaving it out is what causes the delays people run into months later. Appointing the new representative is done on Form SSA-1696.
The full process, including which Social Security office receives the paperwork at each stage, is in how to change your Social Security disability lawyer.
Your Representative Withdrew
A representative who withdraws must notify both you and Social Security in writing. They are also not free to do it whenever they like: Social Security’s rules of conduct require withdrawal at a time and in a manner that does not disrupt the claim and that leaves you adequate time to find someone new. Your filing date, your protective filing date and the evidence already in your file are unaffected.
The part that causes real damage is the part people miss. Your deadlines keep running. Losing a representative does not extend an appeal deadline by a single day.
What to check, what happens to a scheduled hearing, and whether the withdrawing firm can still claim a fee are covered in what to do if your disability lawyer drops your case.
A Former Representative Will Not Waive the Fee
Under the fee agreement process every appointed representative has to sign the same agreement. One refusal makes that impossible, so Social Security disapproves the agreement and moves both representatives to the fee petition process instead. That is slower, and it delays your past-due benefits while the allocation gets sorted out.
You are not paying two full fees. The cap applies to the total across every representative on the claim. You also have rights in the process that most claimants never hear about, including a window to object to what a representative has itemized.
The mechanics, the forms and the deadlines are in what to do when a former disability lawyer will not waive the fee.
You Are Not Sure Who Is on Your Claim
This is more common than it sounds. People sign with a national advertiser or an advocacy company early in the process, hear nothing for a year or two, and cannot say who is actually handling the file. The appointment does not expire on its own. It stays on the claim until someone files the paperwork to remove it, and while it sits there Social Security keeps sending copies of your notices to whoever is named.
There are four ways to find out, and one of them takes a phone call. They are set out in how to find out who is representing you on your Social Security claim.
What Is True in All Four
Changing, losing or replacing a representative does not touch the claim itself. The application date and protective filing date carry over, so back pay keeps accruing from the same date. Medical evidence already submitted stays in the file. A scheduled hearing usually stays on the calendar.
Fees work the same way regardless of how many representatives have been involved. A representative is paid the lesser of 25 percent of past-due benefits or $9,200, only if the claim is won, and only with Social Security’s approval. The cap applies to the total, not to each representative in turn.
And in every one of the four situations, the deadlines already running against your claim keep running. If an appeal deadline is close, deal with that first and sort the representation out alongside it. The deadlines after a denial are covered separately.
Where We Fit
Our office is in Phoenix and we handle Social Security claims, and only Social Security claims. We represent claimants across Arizona and in other states as well. Social Security now schedules disability hearings by telephone or video unless you ask to appear in person, so where your representative sits matters far less than it used to. For Arizona claimants specifically, which hearing office handles your case covers how assignment works and what it means market by market.
If you are not sure which of the four situations you are in, that is a reasonable question to ask on a phone call rather than work out from a website. Other common questions are answered on our FAQ page.