SSA will discontinue benefits if they believe the claimant is no longer disabled. If this happens to you, and you disagree with the decision, then you must file a timely Request for Reconsideration (appeal). You must file your appeal within 60 days. However, if you file your appeal within 10 days, you can continue to receive benefits during the pendency of the appeal. However, if you ultimately lose the appeal, you may have to pay back some or all of the benefits you received during the pendency of the appeal.
These types of cases are called “cessation” cases. Finding a lawyer in a cessation case can be difficult if you have appealed within 10 days. The reason for this is because, since you are continuing to receive your benefits during the pendency of your appeal, there can be no back pay award from which to take an attorney fee. Lawyers generally want to get paid for their work, so they avoid these cases. However, Hubbs Disability Law has created a special fee agreement that allows them to take cessation cases. Under this agreement, the client pays a percentage of his monthly benefit to the attorney, to be held in trust, while the appeal is pending. Then, if the client wins the appeal, HDL will file a fee petition with SSA requesting authorization to take the amount in trust as the attorney fee. If the client loses the appeal, HDL refunds all the money in trust back to the client.