How does your lawyer get paid for winning your SSD or SSI case? I am Paul Badame, your Social Security attorney from Rubin & Badame, Attorneys at Law, P.C.. Today, we're going to talk about how your lawyer gets paid if we win your case. First of all, we only get paid if we actually win your case.
You don't pay anything upfront
And how do we get paid? Number one, you do not have to pay any money up front. Your lawyer gets paid from your retroactive benefits only, and the amount is 25%. This means your case has to result in retroactive benefits. If it doesn't, and sometimes cases don't, we don't get paid.
Sometimes, we don't get paid
For example, if you're approved very quickly after you stopped working, your case might not result in back benefits. And sometimes, an adjudicator or a judge approves the case using a different onset date, one closer to the present time of the adjudication or the hearing. As a result, it might not result in retroactive benefits. In that case, we don't get paid and you owe us nothing. It doesn't happen too often but if that's the case, then we don't get paid.
When your case results in retroactive benefits
What happens if your case does result in retroactive benefits? Your lawyer will receive 25% of the retroactive benefits, capped at $6,000. Let's say your case results in a lump sum, a retroactive benefit of $10,000. We will get paid $2,500 and you get the rest, i.e., $7,500. Your ongoing benefits, called your monthly benefits, from there on out are all yours.
How much do we get?
We only get paid from your retroactive benefits. Let's say your retroactive benefits result in you getting a $40,000 lump sum payment, and 25% of $40,000 is $10,000. And that seems like a lot of money. However, for cases at the initial level or before a hearing, where you're represented by an attorney, there's a cap.
There's a cap
That cap is $6,000. Even though 25% of that $40,000 retroactive payment is $10,000, your lawyer is capped at $6,000. This means that the most they could receive for your case is $6,000. It's $6,000 or 25% of retroactive benefits only. Whichever amount is less.
Learn more about how our law firm can help you and your options during a free consultation with our firm.
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