Paying a Lawyer - Disabilities Message Board

Dottiejane · 01-11-2007, 04:41 PM

This could end up being a long post but I will try to make short and sweet

My husband is 38, has herniated and bulging disc's in his back. He has herniated disc's in his neck that he needs to see a surgeon for next week. There are a few other things wrong but I won't bore you with the details.... Hubby applied 2 and 1/2 years ago for SSD. Has been denied twice. The reason is that SS didn't have hardly any info on him or his records. So after the second denial we met with a lawyer. The lawyer said "I need more info before I can agree to take your case" That was understandable. So anyway, months went by and we signed all the necessary paperwork for the lawyer to get what he needed. We hear nothing. A few emails passed bwteen us saying "I need more info before I agree to take the case" etc. So what I did was research online to seeEXACTLY what SS needs to make a favorable decision. I began gathering EVERYTHING from medical to emotional and all tests etc. Nothing from the lawyer. So we were in jeopardy of losing our house so I got info online saying to contact your congress people. I did that and they have been working with me for 4 months now. They managed to get my husband's ALJ date moved up (Don't know when yet) and a possible bench decsion will be made. This was all done because I gathered everything and drove it to the Congressman's aide that I was working with. She then forwarded it all to her contact inside SS. Now keep in mind I did everything and gathered everything, made the calls, faxed info etc I did it all myself with no help from the lawyer. I also passed the info that I gave to SS on to the lawyer. The Congress person told me "DO NOT" go to court without a lawyer NO MATTER WHAT! So now that the attorney has received all my husband's info (thanks to me) he wants to meet with us again. I assume to sign paperwork to hire him. Now my question is...... Suppose we sign to hire him and a bench decision is then made in my husband's favor? Do we still owe him? Thank you for reading my looooooong post
Dottiejane

Mz Migraine · 01-11-2007, 05:58 PM

Quote:

Suppose we sign to hire him and a bench decision is then made in my husband's favor? Do we still owe him?

Only for appearing at the hearing and for any OOP (out of pocket) expenses that may have occurred. Those expenses are usually things like phone calls, faxing, stamps, etc.

However, you must let Social Security Disabilty know IN WRITING that you did all the work. You must show PROOF dates, names, etc. (have documentations-copies) so that they do not pay the attorney the FULL $5300 or whatever the going rate is now.
The Social Security Disability folks LOVE documentation. You better have all your "Ts" crossed & your "Is" dotted.

Read the paperwork WHILE IN THE ATTORNEY'S OFFICE & ASK QUESTIONS. Inform him that you are ONLY paying him for appearing at the hearing. If he huffs & puffs get up & leave.
Let him know he was suppose to be working for YOU not the other way around.

There are plenty of other attorneys out there who will handle your case. They are listed in the Yellow Pages. Just make sure they ONLY Social Security Disability cases.

I was in your shoes. I only hired an attorney to appear for my hearing AND I did all the work.
I informed SSD of this fact immediately after I was approved in writing.
Approximately 1 1/2 months after I received my back pay $5300 was directly deposited into my account.

I did pay my attorney his OOP expenses as soon as I received my back pay.
I am assuming SSD did some investigating to confirm that I did all the work.

Good luck!

tweiler · 01-11-2007, 08:39 PM

I ahve a few questions about getting an atty. I have been denied and gone to the ALJ level, who wanted more information so held my case over. My doctor then sent me to a pain specialist who sent me to therapy and a bunch of tests. When none of that showed why I have my problems, the pain specialist said it might be fibromyalgia. So I asked him for a referral, got an appt and the rheumy confirmed I do have fibromyalgia. Anyways, everything up to and including today has been gathered by myself, with the help of my husband. Right now I am waiting to see if the judge can make a favorable decision based o nthe info provided. My husband helped me find local cases with fibromyalgia as the main problem and they were all either won or the court ordered them back to ALJ for a favorable decision (which I guess is still a win).

My husband says if I get a notice for a new ALJ hearing, I should get an atty. If I did that, could I just write a letter outlining how up to (DATE), my husband and I have done all the work and gathered all the records. Since they could look and see that I am the one who has signed everything, and even hand carried papers into the disability hearing office, would a letter be enough to keep an atty from getting the whole fee? Or would I need to try to break down a timeline with names and dates of what I turned in and who I gav eit to. I doubt I have much like that, at least not with much detail.

I jsut need advice on how to protect the biggest portion of my award if I win. It just wouldn't seem right for me to have done all this work for 3 years and then have an atty step in at the last minute and get a large chucnk of my award. I have not tried writing my senator or anything yet.

Mz Migraine · 01-12-2007, 08:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tweiler

I ahve a few questions about getting an atty. I have been denied and gone to the ALJ level, who wanted more information so held my case over. My doctor then sent me to a pain specialist who sent me to therapy and a bunch of tests. When none of that showed why I have my problems, the pain specialist said it might be fibromyalgia. So I asked him for a referral, got an appt and the rheumy confirmed I do have fibromyalgia. Anyways, everything up to and including today has been gathered by myself, with the help of my husband. Right now I am waiting to see if the judge can make a favorable decision based o nthe info provided. My husband helped me find local cases with fibromyalgia as the main problem and they were all either won or the court ordered them back to ALJ for a favorable decision (which I guess is still a win).

My husband says if I get a notice for a new ALJ hearing, I should get an atty. If I did that, could I just write a letter outlining how up to (DATE), my husband and I have done all the work and gathered all the records. Since they could look and see that I am the one who has signed everything, and even hand carried papers into the disability hearing office, would a letter be enough to keep an atty from getting the whole fee? Or would I need to try to break down a timeline with names and dates of what I turned in and who I gav eit to. I doubt I have much like that, at least not with much detail.

I jsut need advice on how to protect the biggest portion of my award if I win. It just wouldn't seem right for me to have done all this work for 3 years and then have an atty step in at the last minute and get a large chucnk of my award. I have not tried writing my senator or anything yet.

When dealing w/the Government:

DOCUMENT DOCUMENT DOCUMENT

Good luck!