Social Security Disability
What to Do When a Former Disability Lawyer Will Not Waive the Fee
Your new lawyer asked your former lawyer to waive the fee, and the answer was no, or there was no answer at all. That does not mean you owe two full fees. Social Security caps the total fee across every representative on your claim, and this article explains the process that follows and what you can do to move it along.
You changed representatives. Following the process for changing your Social Security disability lawyer, which covers the three documents Social Security needs, including the fee waiver, your new representative asked your former lawyer to sign that waiver. The former lawyer refused, or has not answered at all. That refusal sets a specific process in motion at Social Security rather than ending your case.
The fee cap in a Social Security disability case applies to the total fee across every representative who worked your claim, not to each one separately. You are not paying your former lawyer a full fee and your new lawyer a second full fee on top of it. What a refusal actually costs is time, and you have real rights in the process that follows. The rest of this article explains both.
Why the Fee Waiver Matters at All
Social Security processes disability fees two ways: the fee agreement process and the fee petition process. Under the fee agreement process, every representative appointed on your claim signs the same agreement, and Social Security approves it without much scrutiny once you win. One holdout representative makes a shared agreement impossible. If your former lawyer will not sign, or will not waive the fee so the agreement covers only your new lawyer, Social Security cannot approve it.
That disapproval does not end the fee question. It moves both representatives into the fee petition process instead, a request that Social Security review and authorize a specific fee based on the work actually done rather than approve a standard percentage automatically. That process is slower and more detailed than a fee agreement, but it still ends with an authorized fee, and it still respects the cap described below.
How the Social Security Fee Petition Process Works
A fee petition runs on Form SSA-1560. Your former representative itemizes the services performed, the dates of the work, and the time spent on each task, then asks Social Security to authorize a specific dollar amount based on that record.
Before filing that petition with Social Security, your former representative must give you a copy of it and anything attached to it. Many claimants do not know this requirement exists until it happens to them. It exists specifically so you can review the petition before Social Security acts on it.
If you disagree with the amount requested, or with anything the petition states about the work performed, contact Social Security within 20 days of receiving it. This is the single most useful deadline in the entire process. Put your objection in writing, be specific about what you disagree with, and send it to the Social Security office handling the fee petition rather than only telling your new representative about it. For an Arizona claimant that is usually the field office that took the application or, once a hearing has been requested, the Phoenix or Tucson hearing office holding the file.
Once Social Security issues its fee determination, either side can request administrative review within 30 days of that notice. A different Social Security official handles the review, one who took no part in the original determination. That official can affirm the amount, lower it, or raise it, based on the same record.
What a Prior Representative Can Actually Claim
A fee petition is judged on services actually rendered, not on the case as a whole. A representative who filed the initial application, gathered records for a year, and prepared you for a hearing has a substantial record to itemize: reviewing the file, corresponding with Social Security, requesting and organizing medical evidence, and preparing you and any witnesses for the hearing, each logged with the time it took. A representative who withdrew early, before doing much of that work, has correspondingly little to claim. The petition has to match what was actually done, and Social Security reviews it against that standard. What a withdrawal itself means for your claim is a separate question, covered in what to do if your disability lawyer drops your case.
Two Lawyers, One Fee Cap
Whatever amount your former representative claims, and whatever your new representative later requests, both draw from the same limit: 25 percent of your past-due benefits or $9,200, whichever is less, combined across every representative on your claim. Two representatives dividing that amount does not raise your exposure above what a single representative would have been paid. The cap has been in effect since November 30, 2024, and it does not change based on how many people worked the file. For more on how fees work generally, see what to do after an SSDI denial in Arizona.
What It Costs You in Practice
A fee dispute does not cost you money beyond the same capped amount described above. It costs you time. Your past-due benefits sit with Social Security while the agency sorts out how much each representative is owed and how the payment is divided between them. That delay is the practical cost of a refusal, on top of however long your claim already took to reach a decision.
Social Security withholds a portion of your past-due benefits specifically to cover an approved fee, and none of that withheld amount reaches you until the fee question is resolved. Your monthly benefit going forward is a separate matter and is not affected by the dispute.
You can shorten that wait. Respond promptly to anything Social Security sends about the fee petition, meet the 20-day and 30-day windows described above, and keep your own record of when your former representative stopped working the file and when your new representative started. Give those dates to your new representative so they can be used if a petition is filed or an objection has to be made.
If the Old Representative Will Not Respond At All
Silence is not a veto. A former representative who neither waives the fee nor files a fee petition does not freeze your claim or stop your new representative from moving it forward. Social Security still has to resolve the fee question before your case is paid out, but a stale appointment does not hold up the rest of the case. Your new representative can raise the lack of response directly with the Social Security office holding your claim, which has its own procedures for handling an unresponsive prior representative. If you are not certain the old appointment is even still on file, how to find out who is representing you on your claim covers the ways to check.
What to Do
A fee dispute between two representatives is mostly between them and Social Security, not something you have to manage alone, but a few habits keep it from dragging on. For answers to other common questions about how these claims work, see our FAQ page. The wider picture is in our overview of representation on your claim.
- Ask for the fee waiver in writing at the time you change representatives, before any dispute starts.
- Keep a copy of any fee petition your former representative files, along with everything attached to it.
- Diary the 20-day deadline the day you receive a fee petition, and object in writing if the itemization does not match what happened.
- Diary the 30-day deadline for administrative review if you disagree with Social Security’s fee determination.
- Give your new representative the dates your former representative’s work stopped and the new representative’s work began.
A fee dispute with a former representative also does not limit who you can hire next. Our office is in Phoenix, and we represent claimants in other states as well. Social Security now schedules disability hearings by telephone or video unless you ask to appear in person, so the distance between you and your representative matters far less than it once did.