Blog Post

Social Security Fee Cap Increased

Posted by: Kristina Vasold
March 11, 2009
Topic: Social Security Disability

The Social Security Administration (SSA) sets the maximum attorney fee that an attorney can charge for a Social Security disability case for services rendered through the level of the first Administrative Law Judge hearing. The SSA withholds the amount of the attorney fee from the claimant's back pay and forwards it to the attorney while forwarding the rest of the back pay to the claimant. Attorney fees may only be charged if the claimant receives a favorable decision. The fee agreement is the lesser of 25% of the claimant's back benefits or a fee cap that is set by SSA. In February 2009, SSA raised the statutory fee cap from $5,300 to $6,000 which is effective June 22, 2009.