I sometimes look at online forums to see what type of questions people are asking about Social Security disability. Often the questions are good but the answers posted by well-meaning, but not knowledgeable respondents can be a little disheartening.

Often times the folks to post responses are basing their statements on what they have heard or what they think to be true but the net result is that these forums contain a lot of misinformation.

Recently, for example, I saw a post on Reddit asking “at what point in the application process should I hire an attorney?”

My response is here but I wanted to highlight some of the other replies which included inaccurate and incomplete statements. Here are some examples and my comments:

Assertion: there is nothing an attorney can do for you in the first two phases…the first two phases are all about filing paperwork. This is not a lawyers area of expertise

My response: filling out paperwork correctly is one of the main reasons to hire a lawyer. Social Security has its own language with dozens of acronyms and abbreviations. An experienced lawyer knows how to fill out SSA’s paperwork to increase your chances of winning early.

Assertion: when you get to the hearing levels you will need to hire a lawyer. Most lawyers work on contingency. They will get a third of your backpay up to $6,000…

My response: under a standard fee agreement, lawyers earn 25% (not 33%) of past due benefits. With rare exception all attorneys handle SSD cases under a contingency fee (not “most lawyers”). Continue reading →